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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I. 

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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



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THE 



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A MANUAL 



TEXTS OF HOLY WRIT, 



ASSISTANCE, GUIDANCE, AND COMFORT OP THE 
CHRISTIAN WIFE AND MOTHER. 



37H/3-,- 



M. H. MALLORY & CO., HARTFORD, CONN. 
1871. 



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,5^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

M. H. MALLOEY & CO., 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



M. H. MALLOEY * CO., 

PRINTERS AND ELECTROTYPERS, 
HARTFORD, CONN. 



DEDICATION. 

To her Christian sisters, placed, like her- 
self, in the responsible position of a Mother in 
the Israel of God, this humble work is affec- 
tionately offered, by one who, having been 
called from earliest womanhood to the care 
and instruction of little ones, and being also 
surrounded with a large family of her own, 
has deeply felt the need of the guiding councils 
and cheering promises so fully vouchsafed in 
the good Word of God. 



CONTENTS. 



Section I. — Self-Consecration, ... 9 

II.— Duty of a Wife, - 47 

III. — Household Cares, - - - - 71 

IV —Birth and Baptism of Children, - 107 

V. — Religious Training of Children, - 133 

VI.— Seasons of Peril and Trial, - - 233 

VII. — Bereavement, ... - 255 



SECTION I. 



S elf- C onsecration. 



Self-Consecration. 



1 Wrestle, my soul, and strive, and pray, 
Thyself to this true love to raise ; 

That thus thou may'st from day to day 
Bring forth new fruit to His great praise." 



I. 

44 Behold the handmaid of the Lord." 

" Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price." 

"As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

Luke, i. 38. I. Cor. vi. 19, 20. Josh. xxiv. 15. 

Behold the handmaid of the Lord 1 This ut- 
terance of the holiest of mothers breathes the 
very spirit of perfect self-devotion with which 
we each should aim to regard our life, with its 
duties, its hopes, its cares, and its trials. 

As for me and mine, we will serve the Lord. 
Such should be our earnest purpose ; and our 
motive, this : the constraining love of Christ ; 
the remembrance that we are " not our own." 

Therefore, fervently and continually, let the 
solemn vow of self-dedication be renewed. 
" Here we offer and present unto Thee, Lord, 



10 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasona- 
ble, holy, and living sacrifice unto Thee ! " 



"Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is an holy God." 
"Abide in Me; . . . without Me ye can do nothing." 
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 

for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of 

His good pleasure." 

Josh. xxiv. 19. John, xv. 4, 5. Phil. ii. 12, 13. 

Amid the glow of fervent feeling with which 
every Christian will look forward to a life of ac- 
tive labor for Christ, and with which Christian 
parents, also, must regard the young lives given 
into their hands, to be influenced, guided, and 
consecrated, together with their own, to that 
blessed service, is there not ever danger lest we 
lose sight of or obscure the truth, that our wis- 
dom, our righteousness, our san education, our 
redemption, and that of the souls "bound up" 
with ours, is in Christ alone ? Our life can only 
be well- pleasing unto God as it is " hid with 
Christ " ; it is only as living branches of the 
True Vine that we can bring forth acceptable 
fruit. 

Let us take heed, then, that we abide in Him, 
by an humble, earnest faith, and that we seek, 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 11 

by all and every means of grace which Himself 
has appointed, that He abide in us. For, apart 
from Him, we can do nothing. 

m. 

" We are created in Christ Jesns unto good works, which 
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." 

" I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go 
and bring forth fruit." 

" Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with 
God." 

Eph. ii. 10. John, xv. 16. /. Cor. vii. 24. 

We firmly believe in that all-ruling Providence 
which disposes the mighty spheres in their or- 
bits, and numbers also the hairs of our heads. 
We trust that we are members in particular of 
the body of Him who hath saved us, and called 
us with an holy calling, that we should bring 
forth abundantly the fruit of good works, to the 
glory of God our Father. 

How, then, can we fail to believe, and to derive 
comfort from the belief, that our lot in life — the 
station in which we find ourselves placed — is 
that in which we can best adorn the doctrine of 
God our Saviour ; that the work " which lies 
nearest us," which our hand findeth to do, is 



12 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

that, by the faithful performance of which, we 
can most effectually serve and glorify the Lord. 

" Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident, 
It is the very place God meant for thee." 

And this place was assigned to us — this our 
life-work was ordained — by One who perfectly 
knew our nature and our powers, our weak- 
nesses and our needs, and it was ordained thus 
in infinite wisdom and mercy. 

" How important," to use the language of a 
well-known writer, " is the truth we express in 
naming our work in this world our vocation, or 
our calling. What a calming, elevating, solem- 
nizing view of the tasks which we find ourselves 
set in this world to do, this word would give us, 
if we did but realize it to the full. 

" "We did not come to our work by accident ; 
we did not choose it for ourselves, but, under 
much which may wear the appearance of acci- 
dent and self-choosing, came to it by God's lead- 
ing and appointment." What a help is this 
thought to enable us justly to appreciate the 
dignity of our work. What an assistance in 
calming unsettled thoughts and desires. What 
a source of confidence, when we are tempted to 



SELF-CONSECKATION. 13 

lose heart, and to doubt whether we shall be 
able to carry through our work with any bless- 
ing or profit to ourselves or others. It is our 
calling ; and He who called us to it will fit us 
for it, and strengthen us in it." 

IY. 

" This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 
" Walk before Me, and be thou perfect." 
" WTiat doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do 
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ? " 
I. Thess. iv. 3. Gen. xvii. 1. Hie. vi. 8. 

We gather yet more clearly from these and 
kindred passages that it is possible for us, by 
Divine help, to attain to the highest state of ho- 
liness and acceptance with God, in that very 
condition of life to which we find ourselves 
called by His Providence. He who wills our 
sanctification, who bids us show forth in our 
daily life and conversation what is that good, and 
acceptable, and perfect will of God, would sure- 
ly not place us in any position in which it 
should be impossible for us thus to glorify 
Him. 

Well was it said, by one of the early teachers 
of the Church, "The most perfect man is he 
who, in the midst of the charges, and cares, and 
2 



14 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

relations of life and home, yet attends upon the 
Lord without distraction." Never, then, let us 
suffer ourselves to imagine that in any other sit- 
uation we could render our God more accepta- 
ble service, or could better work out our own 
salvation. 

"We need not "bid for cloistered cell, 
Our neighbor, or our work farewell, 
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high 
For sinful man beneath the sky. 

" The trivial round, the common task, 
Would furnish all we ought to ask — 
Room to deny ourselves— a road 
To bring us daily nearer God." 



" Your life is hid with Christ in God." 
"Pray without ceasing." 

" Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanks- 
giving." 

Col. iii. 3. 7". Thess. v. 17. Col. iv. 2. 

We need these sacred words, to remind us 
again and again of our only source of life and 
strength. Most true it is that God hath called 
us to serve Him in the daily duties of our lot, 
yet no less true that it is impossible for us thus 
to please Him unless we wait on our God con- 
tinually, and thus renew our strength. 

And the more busy our life, the more pressing 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 15 

our employments ; the more absorbing our anx- 
ieties, the greater need is there that we hold fast 
our precious privileges of devotion. 

" Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong, 
Or others, that we are not always strong ? 
That we are ever overborne by care, 
That we should ever dull and heartless be, 
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer : 
And joy, and strength, and comfort are with Thee ? " 

" The life of our Lord," writes a divine, " ex- 
hibits the most perfect example of constant em- 
ployments. Hardly any man's life was ever yet 
so broken in upon, and taken from him, by la- 
bor and care, and the importunity of others, as 
His ; and yet He is to us the most perfect exam- 
ple of devotion. 

" That which we plead as excuse was the very 
cause why He went out into a mountain to pray, 
and continued all night in prayer to God. In 
which He teaches us that whatever else we fore- 
go, we may not forego our prayers ; whatever 
else is at our will to give up, this is not ; how- 
ever necessary we may think other things, this is 
the thing needful above all." 



16 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

VI. 

" Our conversation is in heaven." 

"I have set the Lord always "before me: because He is at 
my right hand I shall not be moved." 
" Enoch walked with God." 

Phil. iii. 20. Ps. xvi. 8. Gen. v. 23. 

These words, and many passages of like spirit, 
imply that it is not enough that at stated sea- 
sons, in our morning and evening devotions, at 
the table of the Lord, and in His house of 
prayer, we seek His face, but we are to walk 
with God, to have our fellowship with Him, con- 
tinuing instant in prayer. 

Perhaps this seems to us a hard saying. "We 
may find it difficult to reconcile the thought of 
our daily, hourly routine with that of an abiding 
consciousness of God's presence — of keeping 
up upon the heart-altar the perpetual fire. 

But to take a more familiar view of the mat- 
ter. If we have a near and dear earthly friend 
abiding with us — tarrying beneath our roof— 
although we must still move on in the unvary- 
ing round of urgent duties, yet, in how many 
ways, by so arranging our occupations as to se- 
cure as much as possible of converse with the 
loved one, and even in our busiest hours, by a 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 17 

look, a smile, a few affectionate words in passing, 
do we evince our loving interest, our delight in, 
and appreciation of, that friend's society. 

Think thus of the " Friend above all others," 
of whom, in our hearts, we must say, 

"I need Thy presence every passing hour/' 

Depending upon His constant care, knowing 
that in Him we live, and move, and have our 
being, conscious that He is " about our path and 
about our bed," shall we not lift up our hearts 
to Him continually, in loving recognition of His 
presence ? Shall we not esteem it a most gra- 
cious privilege that we may thus, in heart, com- 
mune with Him at all times ? That, by the 
heavenward thought, when our hands are occu- 
pied with labor, by the prayerful ejaculation at 
the moment of temptation and disturbance, by 
the low-breathed hymn which lulls an infant to 
repose, we may offer homage to our God and 
King — an homage acceptable unto Him as that 
which arises from the secluded oratory or the 
vaulted temple. 
2* 



18 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

vn. 

"Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of 
the Lord Jesus." 

" Ye serve the Lord Christ.' ' 

"As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the 
heart." 

Col. iii. 17. Col. iii. 24. Eph. vi. 6. 

How truly inspiring are these words, throwing, 
as they do, a ray of heavenly brightness upon 
the most obscure, the most dreary or toilsome 
post occupied by a servant of Christ ! 

"Whatever our hand findeth to do, in the way 
of duty, we may do it in the name of the Lord — 
we may do it as a service unto Him. 

If we incline to ask how we may dare regard 
our petty employment of the hour as the Lord's 
work, let us consider how the providence of God 
extends to the smallest concerns of His crea- 
tures. 

He who paused beside the child whom His 
almighty word had recalled to life, to command 
that something be given her to eat ; He who 
clothes the grass of the field with beauty, and 
numbers the hairs of our heads, is not unobserv- 
ant of those engaged in the lowlier duties of 
life, nor unmindful whether these be fulfilled in 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 19 

the grovelling spirit of the world, or in His 
name, and to His glory. 

VIII. 

"If, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall 
be full of light." 

"No servant can serve two masters.. ye cannot serve God 
and Mammon." 

" This one thing I do." 

Matt, vi, 22. Luke, xvi. 13. Phil. iii. 13. 

" My yoke is easy," saith the Master. " Great 
peace have they," declares the Psalmist, u who 
love Thy law." 

How is it, then, that we do so fail of realizing 
this peace ? that we are so often perplexed and 
anxious ? that we are chafed by the yoke and 
burden so gently laid upon us ? Have we not 
the key to our difficulty in the texts just quo- 
ted ? 

Let us examine ourselves whether we be 
swayed, in our intercourse with society, by the 
rule of fashion ; by the dictates of worldly pru- 
dence in the management of our affairs; by the 
impulses of natural feeling in our maternal du- 
ties ; or, by self-indulgence, the love of the praise 
of men, or the claims of an earthly idol. If 
either of these, or each in turn, become our most 



20 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

powerful motive, causing us to swerve from our 
one single purpose, the " one thing " which we 
profess to do, must we not expect dimness in- 
stead of light, confusion instead of the promised 
peace ? 

" God crowneth no divided heart, 
Oh, hallow to Him all thy life I " 

The " closer our walk" with God, the " purer 
the light " which will illumine our way. The 
more steadfast our devotion to Christ, the more 
perfect peace shall we enjoy. The purer our aim 
to live to His service, the more clear and free 
from perplexities will our path become. Pray 
we, then, most earnestly, for grace to cast down 
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth 
itself, and to bring into captivity every thought 
to the obedience of Christ. 



IX. 

"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " 

"As the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mis- 
tress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. 1 ' 

" Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I 
lift up my soul unto Thee ! " 

Acts^ ix. 6. Ps. exxiii. 2. Ps. cxliii. 8. 

"Leave God to order all thy ways, 
And trust in Him, whate'er betide." 

We have chosen God as our Master ; we have 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 21 

given ourselves up to serve Him in the way that 
He shall appoint ; we desire that His will may 
be done in us, that He may be glorified in us — 
then have we done our part — the ordering of 
our work is His. We have no call for anxiety 
as to the result, nor need we be disturbed and ha- 
rassed by seeming interruptions and hindrances, 
for these are but Providential manifestations of 
His will concerning us. "We work not for our- 
selves, but for the Master, who sees the whole 
vast field and appoints each servant, hour by 
hour, his part in the accomplishment of His 
mighty purposes. The work is His, and surely 
our short-sighted wisdom cannot judge of the 
best manner of performing it. 

As then, a well-trained servant accepts the 
duties hourly allotted to him, not murmuring, 
although his labors in one direction be inter- 
rupted by some new expression of his lord's 
will ; not venturing to question orders and ar- 
rangements, the purpose of which may yet be 
beyond his comprehension ; concerning himself 
only in the faithful performance of each task 
assigned to him ; so let us serve our Lord ! 



22 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



" I am Thy servant, give me understanding.'" 

" The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. ... He shall 

teach you all things." 
" The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will 

He teach His way." 

Ps. cxix. 125. John, xiv. 26. Ps. xxv. 9. 

But, it may be said, the way of duty is not 
always clearly apparent ; often it is hard to de- 
cide what is right and best to do, under existing 
circumstances ; often we are drawn hither and 
thither by what seem to us duties. How are we 
then to judge, or, having judged and acted, how 
shall we know that we are doing the will of 
God — that which is pleasing in His sight ? 

In reply, let us ask, Do we believe in the Holy 
Ghost ? And was it not expressly said by the 
Master, " He will guide you " ? 

Having, then, first faithfully examined our 
hearts, whether we do humbly seek to know, 
and supremely desire to do, the Lord's will, let 
us cast our care upon Him, beseeching Him that 
He w T ill " grant us by His good Spirit to have a 
right judgment in all things ; " that He will be 
to us " a Spirit of counsel in all difficulties, and 
direction in all doubts, a Spirit of wisdom, and 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 23 

conduct, and discretion ; " " that we may both 
perceive and know what things we ought to do, 
and also may have grace and power faithfully 
to perform the same." 

Shall we not then believe that He will thus 
guide us ? That u the steps " which we take, 
thus trusting in His promised grace, are " or- 
dered by the Lord " ? 

XI. 

" Go thou thy way until the end be.' 1 

u I will bring the blind by a way that they know not ; I 
will lead them in paths that they have not known ; I will 
make darkness light before them, and crooked things 
straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
them. 1 ' 

" Commit thy way unto the Lord : trust also in Him, and 
He shall bring it to pass." 

Dan. xiii. 13. Isa. xlii. 16. Ps. xxxvii. 5. 

When we are conscious of having thus prayer- 
fully sought for guidance, in any emergency or 
difficulty, coming also to the light of God's 
Word, and acting then according to our sense of 
duty, we are not to vex ourselves with lamenting 
the decision, or action, however ill-judged it 
may appear from the results. We cannot see all 
the results ; and we are to trust all with Him 
whom we have humbly endeavored to serve, and 



24 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

comfort ourselves with the knowledge that He is 
able to "make all things work together for 
good." 

But, in thus asking Divine light upon the 
path of duty, we are not to expect too much, to 
seek to look too far forward upon the dim un- 
certain road. 

It may be that but one step — the duty of one 
moment shall be apparent, as when, by the sea, 
the Israelites were commanded to go forward. 

Let us obediently take that step ; and, watch- 
ing, we shall see the next, and the next revealed, 
marked by the footprints, and cheered by the 
call of Him who, when He putteth forth His 
own sheep, goeth before, and thus leadeth them, 
though by a way which they know not, unto 
their eternal rest. 

XII. 

"If the first fruits be holy, the lump is also holy, and 

if the root be holy, so are the branches." 

" Take heed unto thyself, and to the doctrine." 

"Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, that it may go 

well with thee, and with thy children after thee." 

Bom. xi. 16. I. Tim. iv. 16. Deut. iv. 40. 

Vast as is the importance of this subject of 
self-consecration, considered with reference to 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 25 

each human soul, however isolated, how greatly 
does it seem to be enhanced, when we reflect 
upon the atmosphere of young life which sur- 
rounds us who are parents, pressing in upon us 
as the plastic clay to the seal, and as surely re- 
ceiving the impress of our character and ac- 
tions. 

Let the deep, yearning solicitude for our pre- 
cious offspring, of which our hearts are conscious, 
move us solemnly to consider the nature of this, 
our daily, hourly influence. 

It will be in vain that we teach, warn, and 
exhort, if our children do not behold in us a 
living exemplification of those teachings. We 
must walk by the same rule which we hold up 
for their guidance ; we must oe ourselves — what 
we desire they may become. 

That the parental relation was designed by 
God to be thus a powerful instrument in the sal- 
vation of the young, cannot be doubted. Chil- 
dren are imitative beings, and God has made 
them so. Happy are those parents who can 
say to their trusting little ones — " Be ye follow- 
ers of us, as we also are of Christ" — " Walk so 
as ye have us for an example." 
3 



26 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Going thus in the heavenward way, and guid- 
ing our children, we may rest in the confidence 
that they will follow in our steps, and that we 
shall be enabled with joy to exclaim — "Here 
am I, and the children Thou hast given me." 

Failing of this close walk with God, and in 
proportion as we fail of it, we do fearfully mis- 
lead and peril the souls committed to our guid- 
ance. 

XIII. 

"What manner of persons ought ye to he in all holy con- 
versation and godliness." 

"Let your conversation he such as hecometh the Gospel 
of Christ." 

"Be thou an example ... in word, in conversation, in 
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 

II. Pet. iii. 11. Phil. i. 27. I. Tim. iv. 12. 

The inspired command to children — " Obey 
your parents in the Lord " — " Honor thy father 
and mother " — will, if we reflect upon it, deepen 
our sense of the responsibility of our position 
as parents. As has been well said — " The Fifth 
Commandment indicates the Divine purpose 
that parents should stand between the child and 
God, and thus lead him heavenwards." The 
little one's first idea of his Heavenly Father's 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 27 

character will be colored by his experience of an 
earthly parent's care and love ; his first impres- 
sions of the teachings of Christ must be derived 
from the illustration of those principles afforded 
him by the parents' example. 

The child is taught to look up to his parents, 
to honor and obey them, long before he can 
comprehend the idea of an unseen God. Dur- 
ing this tender period, especially, the parent is 
to him the representative of God — of the Sav- 
iour. 

If, then, the discipline he receives, the example 
which he unconsciously follows, the obedience 
exacted of him, are in accordance with the mind 
and will of God, as it gradually unfolds itself to 
his understanding — if he perceives that in obey- 
ing his parents he obeys the Lord — the effect 
must be most happy. But who shall answer for 
the consequences in the heart and life of the 
child, if in honoring his parents, he has learned 
to dishonor God. 

XIY. 

" The child is not ; and I, whither shall I go ? " 
" Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the 
poor innocents.'" 



28 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God ! " 

Gen. xxxvii. 30. Jer. ii. 34. Ps. li. 14. 

Oh, parent, who in your devotion to your idol- 
ized children, deem no sacrifice too great, no 
toils too severe which may secure their advance- 
ment and happiness, pause and ponder the path 
of your feet, in which they are too surely follow- 
ing, and see to it, that in the end you be not 
found "verily guilty" of the souls of those 
dearer to you than your own life. 

What misery is in this thought. Yet how 
should it come home to each one of us who is 
not consciously striving to lead the life of a 
child of God. 

For, as saith the holy Bishop Taylor — "Be- 
tween parents and their children there is so 
great a society of nature and of manners, of 
blessing and cursing, that an evil parent cannot 
perish in a single death. 

" And," he continues, " holy parents never 
eat their meal of blessing alone, but they make 
the room shine like the fire of a holy sacrifice ; 
and a father's or a mother's piety makes all the 
house festival and full of joy, from generation 
to generation." 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 29 

XV. 

" Ahaziah walked in the way of his mother." 
"As is the mother, so is her daughter." 
" Is it well with thee ? Is it well with thy husband ? Is 
it well with the child ? " 

I. Kings, xxii. 52. Ezelc. xvi. 44. II Kings, iv. 26. 

We have spoken, hitherto, of parental influ- 
ence in terms which might apply equally to 
either parent ; we have now to make a closer 
application of this subject to ourselves as 
mothers. 

Who can doubt that the moulding of the 
child's character, in the majortiy of instances, is 
chiefly the work of the mother ? It is, indeed, 
most desirable that the influence of both par- 
ents should be in unison, and that their united 
example should be the guide of their children's 
tender years. And we may be able to recall 
many instances in which the firm, consistent 
piety of an honored father has triumphed over 
the most pernicious example in the mother, in 
swaying the lives of children. 

Yet, to be convinced that the maternal influ- 
ence must be, in the generality of cases, the 
more potent, we have only to reflect that dur- 
ing the first, and the most impressible years of 
3* 



30 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

infancy, the child is, almost exclusively, in the 
mother's hands. The avenues to that young 
and tender heart are in her keeping ; the seeds 
which are sown in its virgin soil are mostly of 
her planting, and, though they may be the seed 
of tares, such as the enemy would delight to im- 
plant, they will prove hard indeed to eradicate. 

" Tell me about his mother," Napoleon was 
wont to say, in forming his judgment of a per- 
son's character — " The fate of a child is always 
the work of his mother." 

Truly, a most sacred trust is ours — a responsi- 
bility which we can delegate to no other. 

Then let us hold this trust for God — let us 
wield this power for Him. 

In the words of another, let us " Come out of 
our closets to mould and fashion character for 
God. This is our appropriate work ; the task is 
too delicate and the responsibility too grave for 
any other voice or hand than that of a mother, 
consecrated by the power of true religion." 

XVI. 

" The unfeigned faith which is in thee, which dwelt first 
in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice." 
"None of us liveth to himself.'" 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 31 

" For their sakes I sanctify Myself." 

II. Tim. i. 5. Bom. xiv. 7. John, xvii. 19. 

While verse after verse of Holy "Writ crowds 
upon our thoughts, bearing upon this solemn 
theme, it cannot be deemed amiss to dwell yet 
longer upon it; and with the texts just cited, 
we must give space to these earnest words of 
one who knows how to speak to the heart of a 
mother : 

" You cannot be too deeply impressed with the 
thought that the Holy Spirit may be most surely 
expected to bless your children in connection 
with yourselves. Then be careful of yourselves. 
Keep yourselves pure ; keep yourselves patient ; 
keep yourselves calm, meek, gentle ; keep your- 
selves (may God help you to do so) in that state 
in which you wish your children to be. 

" You have not failed to observe that mystery 
of your physical constitution, whereby anything 
in the least degree noxious in your diet imparts 
its deleterious influence to the natural food of 
your infant, and shows its effect so soon upon 
its delicate system. Hardly less susceptible are 
your children's minds. With but little less cer- 
tainty do they imbibe an evil influence from 



32 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

whatever affects your spirit unfavorably. Then 
keep your hearts in a wholesome state. Guard 
yourselves from all evil tempers for your chil- 
dren's sake. Try to be, and pray to be, in spirit 
and behavior, what you would have them. It is 
most likely that they will be mainly what you 
are. 

"I know how heavily this thought may op- 
press you, but cast the burden of it on God. 
Take comfort and courage from His offered help. 
He can fit you for your work. He will, if you 
truly desire it. What else can He be more wil- 
ling to do for you ? " 

XVII. 

44 Behold, thou knowest His will and appro vest the things 
that are more excellent, . . . and art ... a teacher 
of babes: . . . thou, therefore, which teachest another, 
teachest thou not thyself? through breaking the law dis- 
honorest thou God ? " 

41 They say and do not." 

44 1 said, I will take heed unto my ways." 

Bom. ii. 18-23. Matt, xxiii. 3. Ps. xxxix. 1. 

We have already in these pages dwelt upon 
Christian consistency — the one single aim to 
serve the Lord in all things — as affecting our 
own peace of mind, our comfort in God's ser- 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 33 

vice. Let us for a moment readvert to this point 
as it concerns our children. 

We should but reiterate what has already been 
said and enforced from Scripture, were we to 
enlarge here upon the importance to children of 
an example of consistent piety — of beholding 
the Gospel rule of faith and obedience simply 
and sincerely acted upon in matters of every-day 
life. 

Now, in nine cases out of ten, it is the mother 
— the Christian mother — upon whom it especially 
devolves to exhibit this beauty of holiness, the 
oneness of belief and practice, before the eyes of 
her children. 

As has been truly remarked, " It is difficult for 
these young, though acute, observers, to compre- 
hend the principles which regulate their father's 
political opinions — his vote in the Senate; his 
conduct in commercial relations — but they can 
see, yes, and they can estimate and imitate the 
moral principles of the mother in her manage- 
ment of themselves, her treatment of her domes- 
tics, and the thousand petty details of the 
interior." 

If, then, the mother walk, in these daily rela- 



34 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

tions, " as seeing Him who is invisible," how 
shall it be but the child's heart will feel the 
truth—" Thou God seest me " ? If the mother 
" seek first God's kingdom and righteousness," 
shall not the child's heart be impressed with the 
reality of things eternal — the value of heavenly- 
treasure ? If the mother's conduct speak con- 
stantly of that "Charity which suffereth long 
and is kind," shall not the child more easily 
comprehend the precepts of a loving Saviour ? 

And on the other hand, if unhallowed motives 
sway the mother's course, either the child's per- 
ceptions of Christian duty will be blunted, or 
his religious faith and trust must receive a 
shock. 

Oh, let us then fear, " lest by any means, as the 
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so 
our minds should be corrupted from the simplic- 
ity that is in Christ," and we thus place a 
stumbling-block in the heavenward path of our 
beloved children. 

XVIII. 

" Is there any secret thing with thee ? " 
" Search me, O God, and know my heart, . . . and see if 
there be any wicked way in me." 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 35 

M Cast the beam out of thine own eye." 

Job, xv. 11. Ps. cxxxix. 23. Matt vii. 5. 

It may be that these words shall meet the eye 
of some mother who, while conscious of heart- 
felt desires and efforts for the salvation of her 
children, is yet grieved to the heart by the indif- 
ference of those children to religious truth and 
duty. 

If such anxiety be ours, let the serious consid- 
eration of the subject upon which we have been 
dwelling, send us to our closets, into the pres- 
ence of the Searcher of hearts, there to examine 
ourselves if there be not some sinful purpose, 
some unchecked temper, some besetting fault, 
which is marring the symmetry of our Christian 
example, and hindering the effect of our instruc- 
tions and prayers. 

XIX. 

" Save the son of thine handmaid." 

" The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
much." 

"The Lord is far from the wicked: hut He heareth the 
prayer of the righteous." 

Ps. lxxxvi. 16. James, v. 16. Prov. xv. 29. 

While we dwell strongly upon the almost un- 
limited influence of a consistently pious exam- 



36 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

pie upon the character of our precious children, 
let us not forget that other equally mighty in- 
strumentality which is, or may be, within our 
grasp — the prayers of the faithful. 

Surely there cannot be a mother, within reach 
of Gospel truths, who does not crave the privi- 
lege of prayer for her children. It is — it must 
be, at least in seasons of awakened thought and 
anxiety — the natural outburst of every maternal 
heart, however careless and worldly, crying out 
in behalf of loved ones for that help which it 
feels itself powerless to give. 

Oh, then, what a solemn motive for personal 
holiness is this, the prayer of the righteous, and 
that alone, availeth much ! 

Living the life of faith in, and obedience to, 
the Son of God, having thus an Advocate with 
the Father, we may come boldly to the Throne 
of Grace, to plead for ourselves and for others, 
especially our children. We may carry all our 
cares for them to Him who heareth prayer ; we 
may place them in the arms of His mercy ; we 
may plead for them His gracious promises. 

But, apart from Christ, living without God 
and without hope, what right have we to ask 



SELF-CONSECKATION. 37 

for blessings from above upon our children ? 
And where is there any promise which shall in- 
spire us with confidence in thus asking ? 

XX. 

" Ye are the light of the world." 

" They took knowledge of them, that they had been with 
Jesus." 
" David returned to bless his household." 

Matt. v. 14. Acts* iv. 13. II, Sam. vi. 20. 

"The children of Israel had light in their 
dwellings." Surely a radiance of joy and peace 
should illumine the houses of those who know 
the Lord, so that " they which come in may see 
the light," much more those " that are in the 
house." 

We who have a good hope through grace, and 
are blessed with joy and peace in believing, and 
are fed and nourished at the table of the Lord, 
do we make others, especially our children, shar- 
ers of our joy ? 

" Truly," saith Chrysostom, " we go not into 
the church merely for the sake of being present, 
but in order to bear home treasures from this 
place. We sin by going empty away from the 
house of God. 
4 



38 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

" Therefore, when you go home, let the friend 
bear somewhat to his friend, the father to his 
children, the masters to their servants. .... 

" From the garden and the forest we bring 
flowers and branches to our friends, from ban- 
quets the mother brings dainties to her chil- 
dren, and shall we return empty from the house 
of God to our families ? " 

XXI. 

" Who is sufficient for these things t. n 
"I can do all things through Christ which strengthened 
me." 
"Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus." 

II. Cor. ii. 16. Phil. iv. 13. II. Tim. ii. 1. 

Reflecting upon the solemn responsibilities of 
life, especially those interwoven with the very 
name of " mother," who does not shrink back 
in conscious weakness, and cry, Who is sufficient 
for these things ? 

Who, indeed ! Though the high and mighty 
ones of earth would smile in derision at the 
thought, there is a work entrusted to each, even 
the lowliest Christian mother, which might task 
the powers of the greatest of them all. 

Yet it is our high privilege in Christ to say, 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 39 

" When I am weak, then I am strong." " Our 
sufficiency is of God." Yes, verily, He who has 
imposed our duties has " grace sufficient " for us, 
if we will but use it. 

Oh, then, let us never be content to tread with 
feeble, uncertain steps, the path of life — " to 
fight as one that beateth the air!" Let us 
seek to be strong in the Lord, strong in the 
grace so freely offered ; not only for the sake of 
our own souls — that we may be " perfect," unre- 
provable in His sight — but, also, that we may 
be " thoroughly furnished unto all good works," 
especially to the blessed task which is peculiarly 
our own ! 

XXH. 

11 Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech, 
and to have my habitation among the tents of Kedar." 

"Ye have need of patience." 

" All things work together for good to them that love 
God." 
Ps. cxx. 5 (Prayer Book version). Heb. x. 36. Rom. viii. 28. 

We wish, we pray for strength of faith, 
strength of principle, of Christian character ; 
yet, too often we repine, and complain against 
the very means which God would order to pro- 
duce this result. 



40 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Were it not for these surroundings, we say — 
this daily vexation, this peculiar hindrance — 
how free should I be to serve my God ! 

" But, if we would look aright upon these an^ 
noyances — the little trials of every day — we 
should see that, instead of preventing the at- 
tainment of the strength and beauty of Chris- 
tian character, they are the very means to that 
end. 

" How did God make that royal oak so differ- 
ent from the puny tree in the dense grove ? 

" By the very winds and storms from which 
the other was protected ; by every breeze which 
agitated it, and caused it to strengthen and bal- 
ance itself with new roots and branches. 

" Thus does God make the Christian strong. 
He tries him by the little breezes of life's com- 
mon, daily trials ; by these He aims to teach us 
dependence upon Himself, to strengthen our 
trust. 

" Let us resolve, then, not to be overcome by 
these trials, nor swayed from our steadfastness ; 
but to stand in the strength of the Lord. 

"However insignificant they may appear, if 
they are enough to cool our ardor, to try our 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 41 

temper, to discourage us in the least, they are 
important enough for us to do battle with, in 
the name of the Lord. And, so met and over- 
come, they will give us strength to encounter 
greater difficulties. Each contest thus waged 
will give us new vigor, greater patience, greater 
faith, and more assured sincerity." 

44 Nor let the time thou owest to God, be spent 
In idly dreaming how thou mightest be, 
In what concerns thy spiritual life, more free 
From outward hindrance or impediment. 
For, presently, this hindrance thou shalt find 
That, without which all goodness were a task 
So slight, that virtue never could grow strong." 

XXIII. 

44 In weariness and painfulness." 

44 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh." 

44 He knoweth our frame." 

II. Cor. xi. 27. II. Cor. xii. 7. Ps. cm. 14. 

There are few trials known in this " vale of 
tears " more grievous to be borne, than is a sickly, 
pain-stricken body, in the case of one laden with 
manifold cares and sacred responsibilities. And, 
from the very nature of things, no persons are 
more liable to this trial than mothers. How 
many a mother is, even now, struggling, "in 
4* 



42 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

weariness and painfulness," to fulfil her high du- 
ties to her family ; grieving over her utter inabili- 
ty to do for them as she would, while from her 
heart is wrung the cry, " Oh ! that I had but 
health and strength to labor for these beloved 
ones ! " 

Dear Christian sister, dwell upon these pre- 
cious words, " He knoweth our frame." Take 
to your heart the assurance of the sympathy of 
Jesus. Take up this, your daily cross, and 
meekly bear it after Him, seeking to glorify Him 
by patient endurance, as you would gladly do 
by active service. And for the life-work, which 
seems to you so poorly done, trust the Master 
whom you serve, remembering, for your comfort, 
His gracious saying, " She hath done what she 
could." And again, " My grace is sufficient for 
thee, for My strength is made perfect in weak- 
ness." Such consolation as the great Apostle 
drew from this promise, when, burdened with 
the care of all the Churches, he thrice besought 
the Lord that the sore hindrance might depart 
from him, is open to all who will receive it in 
the same faith ; to all who rest in the hope that, 
for the daily burden, daily strength will be 



SELF-CONSECRATION. 43 

given ; and for the fulfilment of all sacred obli- 
gations, the " power of Christ " shall rest upon 
His servant. 

XXIV. 

"Faint, yet pursuing." 

" Be not weary in well-doing." 

" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
of life. ... To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of 
the hidden manna." 

s, viii. 4. II. Thess. iii. 13. Bev. ii. 10, 17. 



The above texts may remind us of a danger, 
the reverse of that we have last considered, and 
much more common. Indeed, for one who errs 
by an over-anxious straining of enfeebled pow- 
ers, there might, doubtless, be found ten who, 
with averted face and folded hands, are suffering 
precious opportunities to pass by — opportunities 
of growing in grace, of ministering to the eter- 
nal well-being of children, servants, or acquain- 
tances, or otherwise of serving the cause of 
Christ and His Church. 

Alas ! Many are the excuses for neglected 
duty, which are allowed to satisfy the con- 
sciences of those " who are at ease in Zion." 
Beloved, let it not be so with any of us. Let no 
slight obstacle deter us from the work which 



44 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

we might be accomplishing ; let no cold indif- 
ference or apathy, whether it originate in physi- 
cal or spiritual disorder, steal as a film over our 
eyes, concealing from us the glorious privileges 
which may be within our grasp, of laboring to- 
gether with all His saints, to the glory of our 
Lord. 

Not by yielding despondently to difficulties, 
not by indulging in languid inaction, not by ir- 
ritably repining over the frustration of our fa- 
vorite plans, but "by patient continuance in 
well-doing," are we to " seek for glory and 
honor, and immortality," and thus seeking, we 
shall obtain the promised " crown of life " — 
eternal life. 

l * Holy strivings nerve and strengthen, 
Long endurance wins the crown ; 
Then the evening shadows lengthen 
Thou shalt lay thy burden down." 



SECTION II. 



Duty of a Wife. 



JDuta of a ttHfe. 



"If ye will be happy in marriage, confide, love, and be pa- 
tient ; be faithful, firm, and holy." 



"Marriage is honorable in all." 

" And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the mar- 
riage." 
" I will therefore that the younger women marry." 

Heb. xiii. 4. John, ii. 2. /. Tim. v. 14. 

Foremost among the ordinances of a wise and 
benevolent Creator, for the welfare of our race, 
as represented in our first parents, was the insti- 
tution of marriage. 

Amid the peaceful purity of Paradise it was 
given, and hand in hand with the ordinance of 
the Sabbath ; the one, as the most important 
means to the earthly well-being and happiness 
of men ; the other, to remind of, and prepare 
them for, a more perfect state beyond the life of 
probation. 

None but the most visionary of men, or those 
whose blindness is too evidently the result of 



48 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

unhallowed influences, have been found to deny 
the wisdom and mercy of God in this appoint- 
ment. 

So clearly is the will of the Lord, in this re- 
gard, revealed in Scripture, so emphatic is the 
blessing of the Church upon the married pair, 
that they who have entered upon this estate 
"reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and 
in the fear of God," may well look up with hum- 
ble confidence, assured of His blessing. 

" Wherefore," as the Homily on Matrimony ex- 
horts, " give thanks to God for His great benefit, 
in that ye have taken upon you this state of 
wedlock; and pray you instantly that Almighty 
God will luckily defend and maintain you there- 
in." 

n. 

" He that made them in the beginning, made them male 

and female wherefore they are no more twain, but one 

flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man 
put asunder." 

" The Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be 
alone ; I will make him an helpmeet for him." 

M A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." 

Matt. xix. 6. Gen. ii. 18. Prov. xii. 4. 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his sermon, " The 
Marriage Ring," thus discourses : 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 49 

"Marriage was ordained of God, instituted 
in Paradise, was the relief of a natural neces- 
sity, and the first blessing from the Lord, He 
gave to man, not a friend, but a wife ; that is, a 
friend and a wife, too. 

" The first miracle that ever Jesus did, was to 
do honor to a wedding. Marriage was in the 
world before sin, and is, in all ages of the world, 
the most effective antidote against sin . . . and 
although sin hath soured marriage, and struck 
the man's head with cares, and the woman's bed 
with sorrows, in the production of children, yet 
these are but throes of life and glory, and 
1 she shall be ^aved in child-bearing, if she be 
found in faith and righteousness.' 

" Marriage is a school and exercise of virtue, 
and though marriage hath cares, yet . . . the 
cares are but instances of duty and exercises of 
piety; and, therefore, if single life hath more 
privacy of devotion, yet marriage hath more 
necessities, and more variety in it, and is the ex- 
ercise of more graces. 

" This state hath proper exercises and trials 
for those graces for which single life can never 
be crowned ; here is the proper scene of piety 
5 



50 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

and patience, of the duty of parents, and the 
charity of relatives; here kindness is spread 
abroad, and love is united and made firm as a 
centre. 

" Marriage is the nursery of Heaven ; the vir- 
gin sends prayers to God, but she carries but 
one soul to Him ; but the state of marriage fills 
up the number of the elect, and hath in it the 
labor of love, and the delicacies of friendship, 
the blessing of society, and the union of hands 
and hearts." 

HI. 

"They two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery : 
but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." 

" Dwell as being heirs together of the grace of life, that 
your prayers be not hindered." 

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him." 

Eph. v. 31, 32. 1. Pet. iii. 7. Prov. iii. 6. 

In the marriage service, matrimony is spoken 

of as a " holy estate," and we are admonished 

that it " is not to be entered into unadvisedly or 

lightly.' ' 

44 Well deemed the Church that more than meets the eye 
Marks the bright bands that soul with soul ally." 

The chapter in Ephesians, from which one of 
the above texts is taken, thoughtfully perused, 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 51 

must greatly elevate our ideas of the sacredness 
of this union. 

" Marriage," observes Bishop Taylor, " in very 
many things, makes the chaste pair to be like 
Christ. 

" This is a great mystery, but it is the sym- 
bolical and sacramental representment of the 
greatest mysteries of our religion. 

"It must be in Christ and the Church. If 
this be not observed, marriage loses its mysteri- 
ousness. But, because it is to effect much of 
that which it signifies, it concerns all who enter 
into those golden fetters to see that Christ and 
His Church be in at every one of its periods, 
and that it be entirely conducted and overruled 
by religion." 

IV. 

u Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
it is fit in the Lord." 

" As the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be 
to their own husbands in everything." 

" They are commanded to be under obedience." 

Col. iii. 18. Eph. v. 24. I. Cor. xiv. 34. 

These passages, it would seem, are explicit, in 
regard to the duty of submission on the part of 
the wife, the idea of which, as denoting a cer- 



52 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

tain inferiority in the position of woman, is 
scouted with indignation by many of our time, 
while others explain these and similar injunc- 
tions as intended only for states of society then 
existing, and smile at the thought of imposing 
such restrictions upon the civilization and refine- 
ment of the present day. 

But it must be apparent to any humble-minded 
reader of the Word, that this order is a part of 
the plan and will of God, for the well-being and 
peace of the family, u that Divine institution 
on which the Church itself mainly relies for its 
prosperity." 

This wifely duty is thus alluded to in " The 
Marriage Ring " : 

"The first (duty of the wife) is obedience; 
which because it is nowhere enjoined that the 
man should exact of her, but often commanded 
to her to pay, gives demonstration that it is a 
voluntary cession that is required ; such a ces- 
sion as must be without coercion or violence on 
his part, but upon fair inducements and reason- 
ableness of the thing, and out of love and 
honor on her part. 

" When God commands us to love Him, He 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 53 

means we should obey Him. * This is love that 
ye keep My commandments/ and, ' If ye love 
me (said our Lord) keep My commandments/ 
Now, as Christ is to the Church, so is man to 
the wife, and, therefore, obedience is the best 
instance of her love The man's author- 
ity is love, and the woman's love is obedience. 
" ' Male and female created He them, and 
called their name Adam,' saith the Holy Script- 
ure ; they are but one, and, therefore, the sev- 
eral parts of this one man must stand in the 
place where God appointed, that the lower parts 
may do their offices in their own station, and 
promote the common interest of the whole." 



"And unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply 
thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring 
forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and 
he shall rule over thee." 

" Even as Sara obeyed. . . . whose daughters ye are, as 
long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement." 

"I esteem all Thy precepts, concerning all things to be 
right ; and I hate every false way." 

Gen. iii. 16. /. Peter > iii. 6. Ps. cxix-cxxviii. 

In view of the peculiar position and trials al- 
lotted to her by the Creator, the Christian wife 
5* 



54 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

is thus encouraged in the quaint language of 
the Homily on Matrimony : 

" But St. Peter saith that this is the chief or- 
nament of holy matrons, in that they set their 
hope and trust in God. That is to say, in that 
they refused not from matrimony for the busi- 
ness thereof, for the griefs and perils thereof, 
but committed all such adventures to God, in 
most sure trust of help, after that they have called 
upon His aid. O woman, do thou the like, and 
so shalt thou be most excellently beautified be- 
fore God and all His angels and saints." 

VI. 

Let " the wife see that she reverence her husband." 
" A woman that honoreth her husband shall be judged 
wise of all.'" 

" Submit yourselves .... for the Lord's sake." 

Eph. v. 33. Ecclus. xxxvi. 26. /. Pet. ii. 13. 

The Divine command requires not merely obe- 
dience on the part of the wife, but reverence; 
that is, respect and deference evinced in her 
habitual deportment, in looks, tones, and actions. 

Happy the wife who is united to one whose 
personal character calls forth this respect. 

But should it prove otherwise in any case, let 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 55 

it be remembered that reverence is enjoined as 
due, not because of the superior wisdom and 
judgment of the men, but because of the author- 
ity and dignity vested in him as head of the 
household, by God himself, and acknowledged 
by the wife in her solemn marriage vow. 

We have in the previous section dwelt at 
length upon the influence of a mother's exam- 
ple upon her children. Is it enough thought of 
in this connection ? 

The same expressions are used in Holy Writ of 
the duty of a wife to her husband, and of chil- 
dren to their parents. Should children interpret 
their own filial duty by the conduct of their 
mother in her wifely relation, what would be the 
sad result in many instances ? 

A recent theological writer, dwelling upon 
the true position of the wife, in comment upon 
I. Pet. iii., thus remarks : 

" Let us know that God's way is ever best. It 
is simply impossible for any woman, however 
superior it may be in intelligence and general 
character, to affect a domestic equality with her 
husband without, to the same extent, compro- 
mising the real dignity and happiness both of 



56 THE CHBISTIAN MOTHER. 

herself and of the entire household. Many a 
mother has wept bitter tears over lawless chil- 
dren who began by imitating her own example 
as a wife." 

YH. 

" She that is married careth for the things of the world, 
how she may please her husband." 
44 A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband." 
" Even as Christ pleased not Himself." 

/. Cor. vii. 34. Ecclus. xxvi. 2. Bom. xv. 3. 

In connection with these texts, we must be al- 
lowed to introduce the following excellent re- 
marks of Dr. Hague : 

" The Scriptures inculcate it as the duty of 
the wife to make it her aim to please her hus- 
band in all things — that is, in all things where- 
in compliance is not sinful. St. Paul says the 
married man c seeketh how to please his wife ' ; 
he assumes that where there is a right spirit, 
this disposition prevails, as a matter of course ; 
he also takes it for granted that the wife seeketh 
how to please her husband. 

" This view of the subject stretches beyond 
the limit of definite rules, and gives to the mind 
and heart of each, free play in studying how to 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 57 

promote the other's happiness. Love is inven- 
tive. Little attentions, unsought and unexpect- 
ed, work mightily the permanent union of kin- 
dred minds. Their power to soothe and to 
cheer, to cast a bland light over the roughnesses 
of life, is incalculable. 

"This rule evidently extends to the most 
trifling things relating to home life, to dress, 
carriage, manners, appearance; and all these 
should be regarded with as much care after mar- 
riage, as they usually are before it. 

"It applies, also, to that oversight of the 
house, that presidency over the family circle, 
which is necessary to secure there that order 
and regularity which will make it a desired and 
peaceful home." 

YIH. 

" A silent and loving woman is a gift from the Lord ; and 
there is nothing so much worth as a mind well instructed." 

" The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her . . . 
she will do him good and not evil all the days of his life." 

"If there he kindness, meekness, and comfort in her 
tongue, then is not her husband like other men."" 

Ecdus* xxvi. 14. Prov. xxxi. 11, 12. Ecclus. xxxvi. 23. 

" Who can find a virtuous woman ? " asks the 
mother of King Lemuel ; and adds, " Her price 



58 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

is above rubies." And in reading such passages 
as the above, and others giving the Scriptural 
ideal of a true and faithful wife, are there many 
who can feel that they come up to this standard ? 
Is there not seldom one who is, in such measure, 
a helpmeet unto her husband ? 

The "well-instructed mind," whose energies 
are untiringly, yet unobtrusively, devoted to his 
welfare ; with loving sympathy entering into all 
his labors and aims ; in whom his heart may 
" safely trust " to preside over his household, 
and guide his children's tender years ; silent as 
to his faults, but ever ready with a "word in 
season " of kindness and comfort : of such an 
one it is said, " Her children rise up and call her 
blessed ; her husband, also, and he praiseth her." 

" Framed for the post she filled, she asked no more 
Reward or honor than that station bore ; 
Enough of honor and of rich reward 
To bless her household and to serve her Lord. 
To the calm quiet of her home retired, 
No pleasures lured her, no applauses fired ; 
Her husband came, and all the toils of life 
Lost all their thorns before his charming wife. 
While wealth was theirs, his liberal board she spread 
His blithe repast, the poor's remembered broad. 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 59 

When all that affluence tottered to its fall, 
She still could wish him joy, since this were all, 
And with a sweet content she bade him prize 
The bliss that Heaven to virtue ne'er denies." 

IX. 

" That they may teach the younger women .... to love 
their husbands." 

"Forbearing one another in love." 

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ." 

Titus, ii. 4. Eph. iv. 2. Gal. vi. 2. 

"* Teach them to love their husbands," St. Paul 
enjoins. The young bride, in all the freshness 
and ardor of her youthful love, will smile at the 
thought that such a precept should be ever 
needed. The wife of many years, while bearing 
toward the companion of her life's joys and sor- 
rows an affection whose depth and strength the 
young bride cannot fathom, will yet acknowledge 
that one must often need the teaching and counsel 
of the good "Word and Spirit of God, to enable 
her to stifle the risings of resentment and bitter 
feeling, and to keep the flame of love burning 
serenely and brightly, while journeying over the 
roughnesses of life's daily paths. 

"The kindest and the happiest pair 
Will find occasion to forbear, 



60 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

And something, every day they live, 
To pity, and perhaps forgive." 



"Whose adorning .... let it he ... . the ornament of a 
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great 
price." 

" A soft answer tnrneth away wrath : but grievous words 
stir up anger." 

" The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out 
water." 

I. Pet. iii, 3, 4. Prov. xv. 1. Prov. xvii. 14. 

Bishop Taylor has a passage of advice upon 
this point : 

"Let man and wife be careful to stifle little 
things, that, as fast as they spring up, they be cut 
down and trod upon. 

" In the frequent little accidents of a family, a 
man's reason cannot always be awake, and when 
his discourses are imperfect, and a trifling trou- 
ble makes him yet more restless, he is soon be- 
trayed to the violence of passion. It is certain 
that men or women are in a state of weakness 
and folly, then, when they can be troubled with 
a trifling accident ; and therefore it is not good 
to tempt their affections when they are in that 
state of danger. 

" In this case, the caution is to subtract fuel 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 61 

from the sudden flame. Add no new provoca- 
tion to the accident, and do not inflame this, 
and peace will soon return, and the discontent 
will pass away as the sparks from the collision of 
a flint." 

XI. 

" Dwell .... as being heirs together of the grace of life ; 
that your prayers be not hindered." 

" We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the 
house of God in company." 

"With one mind striving together for the faith of the 
Gospel.' ' 

L Pet. iii. 7. Ps. lv. 14. Phil. i. 27. 

" It is presupposed," says a Christian writer, 
" that the union of husband and wife is founded 
upon some bonds of sympathy in mind, taste, af- 
fections, or at least of interest. 

" But unless there is a better bond than one 
or all of these, the true tie will be wanting ; th£t 
which death cannot dissolve, and which the 
constant filterings of cares and sorrows, of faults 
and failures, cannot wear away. 

"Happy is the wife who can find Christian 

sympathy in the sharer of her trials, and an 

earthly supporter pointing to the sustaining arm 

of heavenly love. And happy is the husband, 

6 



62 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

who, in his hours of trial, from whatever source, 
can find a sympathizing spirit, the lamp of whose 
love ever burns toward Heaven, and is as a bea- 
con-light and a star of hope in his earthly 
course. 

" Souls that carry on a blest exchange 
Of joys they meet with in their heavenly range, 
And with a fearless confidence make known 
The sorrows sympathy esteems its own ; 
Feel less the journey's roughness and its length, 
Meet their opposers with united strength, 
And one in heart, in interest, in design, 
Gird up each other for the race Divine." 

xn. 

41 Did He not make one? Yet had He the residue of the 
Spirit. And wherefore one ? That He might seek a godly 
seed." 

" And they were both righteous before God, walking in all 
the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." 

" The generation of the upright shall be blessed. 1 ' 

Mai. ii. 15. Luke^ i. 6. Ps. cxii. 2. 

Important as is this bond of Christian fellow- 
ship, for their own highest peace, to those who 
are to walk life's pathway together, it is far 
more necessary in view of that most momentous 
of their life duties— the rearing their offspring 
for God. 



DUTY OF A WIFE. (53 

In regard to this, how significantly may we 
ask, " How can two walk together except they 
be agreed?" Where the parents are one in 
heart and purpose to " walk in all the com- 
mandments and ordinances of the Lord," and 
to " command their children and household af- 
ter them," there the Lord shall not in vain 
" seek a godly seed." 

But, alas ! many a burdened heart will testify- 
how hard it is for one parent to guide the chil- 
dren in the ways of holiness, when the other, 
who should be equally interested and zealous in 
this blessed work, looks on with chilling indif- 
ference ; or by evil example, or, it may be, by 
direct opposition and ridicule, baffles, to a sad 
degree, the efforts of the earnest-hearted one. 

If these words should meet the eye of one 
thus situated, we would say, be not disheartened, 
but rather labor the more perseveringly and 
faithfully, since, under God, so much depends 
upon you. 

The question often arises, u What is the duty 
of the wife in cases where there is a difference 
of religious opinions and belief % " In these in- 
stances, there is comparatively no difficulty un- 



64 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

til the presence of children, and the necessity of 
their training greatly involves the matter, and 
awakens the anxious heart to a sad conscious- 
ness of the great mistake in such an union. 

To a wife thus circumstanced, the advice 
must be: Comply with your husband in all 
points which are not matters of conscience ; 
meet him as much as possible on the common 
ground of faith and Christian practice, and la- 
bor thereupon with him harmoniously for the 
well-being of your offspring. 

Studiously avoid, also, all strife of words, and 
argument in behalf of your creed ; on the part of 
a wife it will but embitter, and can do no good. 
Seek, rather, to honor your faith by holy living, 
and plead your cause by prayer. 

XIIL 

" If any obey not the word, they also may be won by the 
conversation of the wives." 

44 Teach the young women to be discreet that the 

word of God be not blasphemed." 

11 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shaltsave 
thy husband ? " 

L Pet. iii. 1. Tit. ii. 4, 5. I. Cor. vii. 16. 

These words, especially the soul-stirring ap- 
peal of St. Paul to the Christian wife, must send 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 65 

a thrill of hope and encouragement to the heart 
of the most afflicted and desponding. 

Let the wife whose life-companion is " with- 
out God and without hope in the world," be 
" instant in season and out of season," in her 
prayers and efforts for his salvation. 

As she is self-denying and untiring in her la- 
bors for his earthly weal, oh, let her deem no 
sacrifice too great, no exertions wearying, that 
may be blessed in securing his eternal welfare ! 

Above all, let her seek the guidance of 
heavenly wisdom in this work, which calls, in- 
deed, for "the wisdom of the serpent, and the 
harmlessness of the dove." Her efforts must, in 
great measure, be silent and unobtrusive ; her 
influence that of a pure and holy example, and 
of faithful, believing, unwavering prayer ; but 
using these, let her never despair of an answer 
of peace. 

XIV. 

"But this I say, brethren, the time is short." 
" The children of this world marry, and are given in mar- 
riage : hut they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain 
that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither mar- 
ry, nor are given in marriage." 



66 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be ao 
counted worthy ... to stand before the Son of man." 

7. Cor. vii. 29. Luke, xx. 34, 35. Luke, xxi. 36. 

We cannot better close this section than with 
the concluding paragraph of " The Marriage 
Ring " : 

" Those married pairs that live as remember- 
ing that they must part again, and give an ac- 
count how they treat themselves and each other, 
shall, at the day of their death, be admitted to 
glorious espousals, and when they shall live 
again, be married to their Lord, and partake of 
His glories, with Abraham and Joseph, St. Pe- 
ter and St. Paul, and all the married saints. 

" c All those things that now please us shall 
pass from us, or we from them ; ' but those 
things that concern the other life, are perma- 
nent as the numbers of eternity. 

" And although at the resurrection there shall 
be no relation of husband and wife, and no mar- 
riage shall be celebrated but the marriage of the 
Lamb, yet then shall be remembered how men 
and women passed through this state, which is 
a type of that ; and from this sacramental union, 
all holy pairs shall pass to the spiritual and 



DUTY OF A WIFE. 67 

eternal, where love shall be their portion, and 
joys shall crown their heads, and they shall lie 
in the bosom of Jesus, and in the heart of God 
to eternal ages. Amen." 



SECTION III. 



Houseliold Cares. 



$ott0£l)0lb (&axt2> 



O happy house, O home supremely blest, 

Where Thou, Lord Jesus Christ art entertained 
As the most welcome and beloved guest, 

With true devotion, and with love unfeigned ; 
Where all hearts boat in unison with Thine, 

Where eyes grow brighter as they look on Thee, 
Where all are ready, at the slightest sign, 

To do Thy will, and do it heartily. 



I. 

41 They constrained him, saying, Abide with us." 
44 He blesseth the habitation of the just." 
i4 Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the house of 
Thy servant." 

Luke, xxiv. 29. Prov. iii. 33. II. Sam. vii.29. 

What is, and what should be our idea of a 
Christian home ? 

Is it intended to be merely a place in which 
persons thrown together by circumstances, pleas- 
ing or adverse, as the case may appear, find 
shelter and the supply of their natural wants ? 
If this were all, then might household care be 
justly deemed a wearisome routine of uninter- 
esting toil. 



72 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

But far more than this did the All-wise Father 
design when He " placed the solitary in fam- 
ilies," when He declared of His people, " I will 
dwell with them and walk with them." 

And, if not to be a mere inn by life's wayside, 
surely not either was the household framed to 
serve as a setting for the baubles of earthly 
pride, as a shrine for this world's idols. 

Not such was that patriarchal home to which 
angels were welcomed, and where the Lord of 
angels Himself communed with Abraham, His 
friend. Not such the home at Shunem, of whose 
inner life we have pleasing glimpses; where 
husband and wife consulted together to honor 
and entertain, according to their means, the 
servant of the Lord, and whose inmates could 
say, in joy or in sorrow, It is well. Not such, 
again, was that peaceful and favored home at 
Bethany to which Jesus was wont to retire from 
the busy scenes of His earthly ministry. 

There are Christian homes scattered through- 
out our land — and would to God there were 
more of them ! — whose watchword is the will of 
the Lord, and whose light and gladness is His 
favor ; homes whose inmates eat and drink and 



HOUSEHOLD CAKES. 73 

do all to the glory of God, seeking His blessing 
upon their basket and their store, upon their 
going out and coming in, and upon all that they 
put their hand unto ; homes blest with the felt 
presence of the Saviour, hallowing every joy, 
sharing every grief, placing His hand in blessing 
upon the head of sportive childhood, walking 
all unseen 

4 'By Ms toiling servant's side," 

and sustaining the feeble steps of age ; homes in 
which those whom God's providence hath banded 
together dwell as heirs together of the grace of 
life. In such a home may it be the privilege and 
happiness of each of us to live and labor ! 

Oh, happy honse, where Thou dost share the weal, 

Where none forget Thee, whatsoe'er befall ; 
Oh, happy house, where Thou the wounds dost heal,— 

The Healer and the Comforter of all,— 
Till every one his stated task hath done, 

And all at length shall peacefully depart 
To the bright realms where Thou Thyself art gone, — 

The Father's house, where Thou already art. 

n. 

" I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." 
" As the sun when it ariseth in the high heaven ; so is the 
beauty of a good wife in the ordering of her house." 

7 



74 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

" She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eat- 
eth not the bread of idleness. ,, 

Ps. ci. 2. Ecdus. xxvi. 16. Prov. xxxi. 27. 



" A well-ordered family," says one, " is the 
genial nursery of all that is noble in human 
character ; " says another, of a cheerful, happy, 
Christian home, " It is the very gate of heaven." 

If these things be so, what shall we say of the 
dignity and responsibility of her upon whom, 
humanly speaking, the management and order, 
the spirit and tone of the household must mainly 
depend ? 

Apart from the consideration already dwelt 
upon (Sec. I.), that even in the lowest station, the 
most menial employments, we may, and are 
bound to glorify our Master, it is a truth that 
the position of the "housemother" is one of 
great, and too generally overlooked, importance. 
It is well we should strive to realize this. Says 
a sensible and observing writer, " The mind is so 
made as to be elevated and cheered by a sense of 
far-reaching influence and usefulness. A woman 
who feels that she is a cipher, and that it makes 
little difference how she performs her duties, has 
far less to sustain and invigorate her than one 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 75 

who truly estimates the importance of her sta- 
tion." 

It would surprise any one who had not con- 
sidered the point, to observe how many passages 
of Scripture advert to the household duties of 
woman, " guiding the house," as St. Paul so 
aptly designates her peculiar sphere. And yet 
no one would be surprised who should reflect in 
how great measure the comfort and usefulness of 
adult members of the family, especially of its 
head, and the well-being of children and ser- 
vants, depend upon the principles on which the 
household affairs are conducted, and the degree 
of wisdom, patience, skill, and energy with 
which these principles are carried out. In all 
that relates to these domestic matters the mis- 
tress of the household must be, as Wordsworth 
expresses it, " the very pulse of the machine." 

Who can duly estimate the importance of this 
post, and not long to realize the poet's concep- 
tion of 

" A perfect woman, nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command." 

Or, loftier aim still, the portraitures in Holy 
Writ, of such a one, whose " price is above ru- 



76 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

in. 

" The church that is in their house." 
" Abram . . . came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre . . • 
and built there an altar unto the Lord. 1 ' 
"He erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel." 
Bom. xvi. 5. Gen. xiii. 18. Gen. xxxiii. 20. 

The first duty the performance of which marks 
distinctively the Christian household, is that of 
family prayer — " That reasonable and acceptable 
offering," as one beautifully expresses it, "in 
which, morning and evening, the godly parents 
lay all that they are, and all that they have, upon 
the altar of sacrifice." 

The texts above quoted point out the practice 
of the patriarchs. " In all their wanderings 
from place to place, wherever they pitched their 
tent, they raised an altar for the worship of God 
in their family. And later than their day, even 
after the worship of God was established at the 
Tabernacle and Temple, holy men appear to ' 
have had, besides that, some family worship, as 
we read, for instance, that David returned after 
a long public service, ( to bless his household.' 
Later still, in the prophets, God threatens to 
pour out His fury i upon the families that call 
not upon His name,' and we read of families 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 77 

' seeking Him apart,' with special religious ser- 
vice. In the New Testament we find frequent 
mention of the * Church which was in the 
house' of some individual. Cornelius appears 
to have prayed with his family. The company 
of disciples was to our Lord as a family of 
which He was the head, and He is especially 
said to have prayed with them, and to have 
asked a blessing at meals. So clearly do these 
evidences establish the truth, that the people of 
God, in all ages, have had their domestic altar to 
the God of Israel." 

Indeed, we can hardly conceive of a household 
naming the name of Christ, and professedly de- 
siring His presence and blessing, yet neglecting 
thus unitedly to seek and acknowledge Him. 

Doubtless it is the bounden duty of the father 
and head to act as the priest of his household. 
But in case of his absence, or, more trying still, 
of his unwillingness to perform the duty, let the 
Christian mother, with his consent, see to it that 
the sweet savor of the incense of prayer shall 
" ascend up before God," day by day, from the 
altar devoutly set up within her home. 



78 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

IY. 

"When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites 
are." 

" If my people .... shall humble themselves, and pray, 
and seek my face .... then will I hear from Heaven." 

4 'Let all things be done decently and in order." 

Matt. vi. 5. II. Chron. vii. 14. I. Cor. xiv. 40. 

The following remarks of a Christian writer 
are, we fear, too sadly applicable to many a 
household : 

" Often," he says, " has my heart been pained 
by the hurried and irreverent manner in which 
I have seen what is called * family prayer ' con- 
ducted. 

" The heads of a household, from custom or 
conscience, thought it right to meet their chil- 
dren and servants night and morning, and they 
were collected at a stated hour; but there 
was confusion downstairs, and confusion upstairs, 
and no signs of that ' preparedness of heart 
which cometh from the Lord ' to conduct us to 
the Lord. 

" If you enter upon family worship wholly un- 
prepared, and go through it as a form, no 
interest is excited, and you may expect to see 
your family, though duly seated around you, 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 79 

with the vacant look which proves the mind re- 
gardless of what is going on. Let your endeav- 
or be to render the service of family prayer a 
means of grace. Let it be conducted in a seri- 
ous, solemn, reverential manner, and look upward 
for the spirit of prayer and praise to be poured 
out upon your little company in such measure 
that your sacrifice may not be that of 'fools,' 
but a profitable service to all." 

To these remarks it may be added that spe- 
cial effort should be made to engage the atten- 
tion of children at family devotions, and, to 
this end, the language of the prayers should be 
simple, such as all may comprehend and unite 
in. As a means of collecting the thoughts, and 
preparing the younger members of the house- 
hold to join reverently in devotion, we know of 
nothing more effectual than the singing of a 
hymn, in which all, even the little ones, should 
be encouraged to unite. 



Y. 



"Walk in wisdom. . . . redeeming the time." 
" To every thiDg there is a season, and a time to every pur- 
pose under heaven." 



80 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the 
Lord." 

Col. iv. 5. Eccl. iii. 1. Bom. xii. 11. 

Having consecrated the day to God, the next 
step is so to apportion its precious hours, so to 
distribute and allot the manifold concerns of 
the day, the business which presses upon our at- 
tention, that there shall be a season for every- 
thing necessary to be accomplished in the house- 
hold economy, and a time to every rightly cher- 
ished purpose; and so that, in this respect 
again, all things shall be " done decently and 
in order." If this be a difficult task in the case 
of one whose hands, unaided, must minister to 
each oft-recurring want of her family, it de- 
mands no less wisdom and patience in one who 
must regulate the disposal, not only of her own 
time, but that of others, often of ignorant and 
heedless persons. In order that the avocations 
of the household shall proceed smoothly, 
without crowding and confusion, the mistress 
of the house must aim and study to reduce her 
domestic affairs to a regular system, and she 
must, by all means, herself set the example of 
" redeeming the time." 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 81 

VI. 

" What is thine occupation ? " 

44 Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of 
the Lord is." 

" What shall we do, that we might work the works of 
God?" 

Jonah, i. 8. Eph. v. 17. JoJvn^ vi. 28. 

The saying is no doubt strictly true that 
"there can be no such thing as conflicting 
duty." Yet what mother or housemistress has 
not disputed it in her heart ? 

No general rules with regard to the regula- 
tion and apportionment of time can be laid 
down that would fit particular cases, for proba- 
bly no two households could be found which 
would be suited with precisely the same man- 
agement. 

Yet there are rules by which each Christian 
should walk, and precepts laid down by the 
Master, which will aid any one in " understand- 
ing what the will of the Lord is," in her own 
case. 

Let any woman who finds herself bewildered 
by the accumulation of duties, apparently such, 
which she has neither time nor strength to dis- 
charge properly, calmly pass these in review, 



83 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

under the judgment of the " Single Eye," ap- 
plying the rules of life which the Lord hath 
given, and she will hardly fail to find out the 
something which has absorbed an undue propor- 
tion of her time and efforts ; which, in her case, 
involves an unwise outlay of these precious tal- 
ents ; and which, if stricken from her list of 
occupations, would leave time for the quiet per- 
formance of neglected duties which have chafed 
her spirit, and destroyed her peace of mind. 

From the overpiled work-basket, for in- 
stance, some articles of unnecessary adornment 
might be abstracted ; from the well furnished 
table some superfluous luxury withdrawn ; the 
house furnishing, regarded in the light of Chris- 
tian simplicity, may seem more complete than 
when compared with that of others, possessed 
of more wealth or leisure ; in some way it will 
be proved that for the work which is really de- 
manded of us, time and ability is given. 



VII. 

" She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to 
her household." 

"Through idleness of the hands the house droppeth 
through." 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 83 

" The hand of the diligent maketh rich." 

Prov. xxxi. 15. Ecd. x. 18. Prov. x. 4. 

" Few, even of those who call themselves in- 
dustrious, can affirm that all their moments are 
faithfully improved. The most diligent are gen- 
erally the first to lament their loss of time ; for 
time, like human life, is most freely wasted and 
destroyed by those who least know its value. 

" We may not suffer hours to pass idly by, and 
yet fragments enough to form hours may be lost 
in each day, because when some task is com- 
pleted, we think we can afford to rest, or expect 
soon to be called to some other duty, and there- 
fore idle away the interval. Those who have 
accomplished much in the world have learned 
the happy art of redeeming these fragments, as 
the goldsmith spreads his apron and saves all 
the filings of gold, which, little in themselves, 
when run together, form something of great 
value." 

The author of these remarks by no means in- 
tended to condemn as wasted the time given to 
needed relaxation and rest. A due amount of 
recreation is as useful for the furtherance of our 
work as it is for health of mind and body. " The 



84 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

bow cannot be always bent, or it will lose its 
spring and become useless." 

But, apart from the time which may be thus 
properly, yes, religiously employed in recre- 
ation, it is too true that many habitually " look 
to the little intervals and interstices of work," to 
use the words of Dr. Goulburn, " as so much time 
which may be freely wasted, trifled away, frit- 
tered away, sinned away without compunction, 
flung recklessly into the great gulf of unre- 
deemed possibilities." 

One very important method of redeeming the 
time is mentioned in the first of the texts col- 
lated above. Of the virtuous woman and model 
housekeeper described in the book of Proverbs 
it is said that she riseth early, u while it is yet 
night." 

No period of the day is so important to the 
housekeeper as the golden hours of the morn- 
ing, and a habit of late rising, indulged in by 
the heads of the household, and, almost of 
course, imitated by children and servants, is di- 
rectly opposed to good order and system in fam- 
ily arrangements. 

More than this, the quiet hour of early morn- 



HOUSEHOLD CAKES. 85 

ing, before the bustle of the day begins, is often 
the only time which the mistress of a family 
can secure, free from interruption, for the privi- 
leges of private devotion. If this be lost for 
the sake of a " little more slumber, a little more 
folding of the hands to sleep," will not a want 
be sorely felt throughout the day ? Let us re- 
solve with David, " My voice shalt Thou hear in 
the morning, O Lord : early in the morning will 
I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look 
up." 

VIII. 

"Every wise woman buildeth her house." 

" Provide things honest in the sight of all men." 

" Gather up the fragments. . . that nothing be lost." 

Prov. xiv. 1. Bom. xii. 17. John, vi. 12. 

These verses call our attention to another im- 
portant feature of domestic care, namely, a wise 
economy in expenses. In this, as in the employ- 
ment of our time, we are to be guided as Chris- 
tians by the perfect law of God. 

And first, " Every wise woman," in this res- 
pect, u buildeth her house." No social position, 
no amount of wealth, can exempt a woman who 
is placed by Providence at the head of a fam- 



86 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ily, from the duty of " looking well to the ways 
of her household " in regard to this matter. 

The command, " Gather up the fragments, that 
nothing be lost," is as binding upon the rich 
as upon the poor ; to be lavish and reckless of 
expense is to place a great temptation and 
stumbling-block in the way of servants and per- 
sons employed in the house ; and again, that 
which the family do not need for themselves, 
should be saved " to give to him that necdeth." 
" If thou hast much, give plenteously." 

A very prevalent fault of the present day is 
extravagance — a living beyond the means. The 
sad story is all too common of bankruptcy, or 
startling frauds, as the consequence of such a 
course. In a majority of cases the wife, if not 
chiefly responsible for such a state of things, 
has been, at least, a willing participant in the 
guilt and folly involved in this way of living, 

It is the duty of the mistress of a family to 
know the amount of means which may be de- 
voted to current expenses in her household, con- 
sistently with the Divine precepts — " Owe no 
man anything," and — " Provide things honest 
in the sight of all men," and conscientiously to 



HOUSEHOLD CAKES. 87 

regulate her style of living, dress, and other ex- 
penditures according to that income, remember- 
ing always to leave a generous margin for char- 
itable and religious purposes. 

IX. 

" The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, 
and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, 
and it becometh unfruitful." 

"Man shall not live by "bread alone, but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 

"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about 
many things : but one thing is needful." 

Mark, iv. 19. Matt. iv. 4. Luke, x. 41. 

"We are reminded here how easily a praise- 
worthy virtue may be carried to excess, and shade 
off into a fault. 

The prudent care, the industrious economy 
which the Scriptures commend, how apt are 
these to exceed the limits of Christian modera- 
tion, and become those very " cares of the 
world," that anxious and troubled spirit, against 
which we are warned in these texts. 

Again, the Saviour speaks of " the deceitful- 
ness of riches," and admonishes us to " take 
heed, and beware of covetousness." Most need- 
ful is this caution, for no sin creeps into the 



88 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

heart more stealthily and unawares than covet- 
ousness — the love of money. 

Under the guise of a commendable provi- 
dence, a reasonable care for one's own children, 
or a just regard for the claims of society, the 
" covetousness which is idolatry" gradually 
gains possession of the soul. 

Against these perils we must "watch and 
pray," seeking to calm all undue anxieties 
about our worldly concerns with the assurance, 
" The Lord will provide." " Having food and 
raiment, let us be therewith content," for " a 
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of 
the things which he possesseth." 



" Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." 
" Stndy to be quiet.'' 

41 Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands 
full with travail and vexation of spirit." 

Ps. xxxvii. 8. I. Thess. iv. 11. Ecd. iv. 6. 

There is a fault to which notable house- 
keepers are especially prone, which seems to ap- 
proach nearer to the spirit of Martha, which 
was reproved by our Lord, than does a mere 
anxiety for the due supply of temporal needs. 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 89 

Such persons take pride in their good house- 
wifery, system and economy — in having all 
things well and creditably done about their es- 
tablishment, and this pride is too apt to show 
itself in worrying and fault-finding at any dis- 
turbance of their arrarigements. In Martha's 
case, the " care and trouble " at that particular 
time was evidently an eager desire that the hon- 
ored guest should be well entertained, and her 
busy carefulness overwhelmed all considerations 
for the feelings and employment of her sister. 

There is many a household, the members of 
which may be humbly seeking to sit at the feet 
of Jesus, whose peace is disturbed by the over- 
carefulness, and needless fretting of its mistress. 

Good housewifery, let it be remembered, is 
" good " and valuable only as a means to an 
end — that end the well-being, temporal and spir- 
itual, of the members of the household. 

Surely a great wrong is committed, when this 
means is exalted to be an object in itself, to the 
attainment of which the peace of the household, 
the best interests of the children or others, and 
too often the Christian temper of the house- 
mother, are sacrificed. 
8* 



90 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

XI. 

" That He may bring forth food out of the earth, . . . 
and bread which strengthened man's heart." 

41 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 
do all to the glory of God." 

" Feed me with food convenient for me." 

Ps. civ. 14, 15.* L Cor, x. 31. Prov. xxx. 8. 

A very important care devolving upon the 
mistress of a family, is that of providing suitable 
food. 

There is a homely proverb to the effect that 
"the Lord sends meat, but the enemy sends 
cooks," and when we consider how frequently the 
bounties of Providence are perverted by careless- 
ness, or ignorance of the laws of health, into ac- 
tive causes of illness and disorder, we can hardly 
deem this too strong language. 

It certainly is the serious concern of every 
woman who has thus the health of a family in her 
keeping, to be herself well informed and com- 
petent, and to give her personal care and watch- 
ful oversight to this matter. 

The table of a Christian family should not be 
loaded with costly, unwholesome, or luxurious 
dainties ; but it should be provided, according 
to their means, with a proper variety of whole- 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 91 

some and palatable food. And this should be 
received with thanksgiving, and in moderation, 
for the purpose of refreshment and sustenance* 
not for the mere gratification of the appetite. 
The mother and mistress of a family may do 
much by a j udicious management of her table, 
and by example and quiet influence, to promote 
habits of temperance and self-restraint in eating 
and drinking, not only in her children, but in all 
whom Providence gathers around her board. 

XII. 

"The lambs are for thy clothing." 

M She is not afraid of the snow for her household : for all 
her household are clothed with scarlet." 
** Having food and raiment let us be therewith content." 
Prov. xxvii. 26. Prov. xxxi. 21. I. Tim. vi. 8. 

Another branch of household care which 
claims our notice, is that of providing clothing 
for the family. In this department, as in the 
preparation of food, strict regard should be had 
to the laws of health. To violate these for the 
sake of fashion, or of indulging personal or ma- 
ternal vanity, is most criminal weakness. 

To supply a family with raiment which shall 
be neat and tasteful, suited to the station and 



92 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

income, adapted to the varying seasons, and to 
the constitutional needs of each, is a matter 
"which rightly demands much time and attention. 
Yet, because it is so necessary, there is special 
need of caution, lest it absorb an undue portion 
of thought and care. 

Perhaps in no point are Christian women more 
liable to overstep the bounds of a religious sim- 
plicity, in none are they more easily led into 
worldly conformity than in the matter of dress. 

The scrupulous following of the mode which 
we too often see, involving an amount of labor 
and care far beyond what would be required for 
health, comfort, or respectable appearance, cer- 
tainly does not accord with the precepts of 
Scripture regarding our apparel, and cannot be 
consistent with our duty as Christians. 

xm. 

" Give unto your servants that which is just and equal." 
44 Knowing that your Master also is in heaven ; neither is 

there respect of persons with Him. 1 ' 
" Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and 

needy, whether he he of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that 

are in thy land." 

Col. iv. 1. Eph, vi. 9. JDeut. xxiv. 14. 

These verses call our attention to the duty of 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 93 

householders toward those engaged in their do- 
mestic service. 

We hear much of the delinquencies of persons 
thus employed, and of the great difficulty of ob- 
taining good and faithful servants; but, per- 
haps, were employers to study more closely their 
own conduct in these connections, they would 
find no small degree of blame resting upon them- 
selves. The Word of God contains full as many 
admonitions to masters as to servants, if not 
more ; admonitions which we shall do well to 
ponder, if we are placed in this difficult posi- 
tion. 

And first we may notice St. Paul's injunction, 
which is but an application of the golden rule 
to this particular case, — that we " give unto our 
servants that which is just and equal." 

There is need of care upon this point, even in 
the case of those who would be shocked at the 
imputation of injustice or hard dealing. It is to be 
feared that employers have become so accustom- 
ed to regard themselves as the victims of a sys- 
tem of extortion, that they are quite too ready 
to meet their servants half way in this matter. 
" The laborer is worthy of his hire," and it is the 



94 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



part of the mistress of a household to see to it 
that the labor of her domestics is fairly compen- 
sated, and that no more is exacted of them than 
is reasonable and just. It is often the case that 
sickness, or other incidents in the family, will 
throw additional labors upon servants for the 
time being. Such extra services, often cheerful- 
ly rendered, should be acknowledged at least 
with grateful appreciation, and where the case 
demands, with the offer of extra pay. 

The Scriptures enjoin prompt and regular pay- 
ment as an important feature of justice. "The 
wages of him that is hired shall not abide with 
thee all night until the morning." " At his day 
thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the 
sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth 
his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto 
the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." " Say not to 
thy neighbor, go and come again, when thou 
hast it by thee." 

The " annals of the poor " might reveal many 
an instance of wrong and suffering, the result of 
the culpable thoughtlessness and indifference of 
employers in this respect. 



HOUSEHOLD CARES 95 

XIV. 

" If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my 
maid-servant .... what then shall I do when God riseth 
np ? and when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him ? Did 
not He that made me in the womb make him ? " 

" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ." 

Job, xxxi. 13-15. Bom. xiii. 9. Gal. vi. 2. 

The law of Christ, to which we profess to 
yield obedience, requires not merely that we deal 
honorably and justly with those in our employ, 
but also that we feel an interest in their welfare, 
as our fellow creatures, children of our common 
Father. Employers sometimes seem to act as if 
the thin partition wall between parlor and kitch- 
en separated beings of a different nature — as if 
those in their service did not possess the same 
sensibilities, the same human wants and infirmi- 
ties with themselves. 

An excellent writer, speaking more particu- 
larly of young persons employed in domestic ser- 
vice, remarks, "As a class, such persons fre- 
quently suffer for want of Christian sympathy. 
They have their sorrows and trials : they have 
physical evils to encounter, as well as those 
who have nothing else to do but to notice them ; 



Ub THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

they know what it is to feel lassitude, weariness, 
and discouragement creeping over them. They 
have, too, the same infirmity of nature, the same 
bad tempers and habits, and they are liable to 
dulness of comprehension, treachery of memo- 
ry, and various other failings incident to the 
erring children of earth. Yet, while there is 
kind forbearance, patient instruction, and indul- 
gent excuses for the children of a household, 
how seldom is such kindness and patience shown 
toward one who is dependent or a hireling. 
How many, young in years, whose mental and 
moral culture have been sadly neglected, are 
turned away at the shortest notice, after a brief 
trial of their conduct, because they cannot at 
once do perfectly well, or because they evince 
faults which would draw forth the tear of grief 
from a fond parent, and counsels and prayers 
from the Christian interested for souls." 

As Christians, therefore, we are to feel our- 
selves bound to regard the health, comfort, and 
happiness of our domestics ; we are to respect 
their feelings, to shield their character from 
thoughtless injury, and, above all, we are to 
study to promote their eternal well-being. 



HOUSEHOLD CABES. 97 

It is often the case that those thus connected 
with our households are so separated from us by- 
creed and prejudice that there seems no oppor- 
tunity for making any religious impression upon 
them. Yet, even here, there is scope for an in- 
fluence for good, which, if prayerfully exerted, 
will not fail of its effect. 

XY. 

44 In her tongue is the law of kindness." 
44 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry." 
44 Forbearing threatening. 1 ' 

JProv. xxxi. 26. Uccl. vii. 9. Eph. vi. 9. 

Of this "law of kindness" Dr. Hague re- 
marks : " This takes within its scope our habits 
of address, our words and tones, our manners, 
and the general spirit of our intercourse. All 
these have their set place among the lights and 
shadows of home life ; and all these elements of 
character are comprehended within the reach of 
that brief precept of the Apostle Paul — ' forbear- 
ing threatening.'' 

"Every one knows that they who rule well 

their own houses must have many directions to 

lay down with great explicitness, many faults to 

correct, and, of course, sometimes reproofs to 

9 



98 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

administer ; but everything, as to the effect upon 
the mind, depends on the manner and the spirit 
in which the thing is done. The eyes are the 
windows of the soul ; and if, looking out through 
them, it dart forth the glance of wrath, con- 
tempt, or pride, it provokes kindred passions, 
exasperates where it ought to soothe, and repels 
where it ought to rule with a gentle influence. 
Even though in this way the point seems to be 
carried practically, yet it is only for a time. 
There is gained nothing of that fine control over 
the mind which gentleness always confers. Un- 
doubtedly mistakes and errors, faults, follies, and 
inadvertencies will sometimes occur, so as to 
render a pointed rebuke necessary. Yet let it 
be seen that fault-finding is not an agreeable 
business ; that it does not afford you a genial 
excitement, or a pleasant pastime, and that the 
opportunity is never welcome. 'Be ye angry 
and sin not ' ; and after the first word of reproof 
be especially on your guard, for he who lets 
passion goad him, punishes himself instead of 
the offender." 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 99 

XYL 

" Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou 
shalt do no manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant." 

"This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the 
rest of the holy Sabbath .... bake that which ye will 
bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe." 

"That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew 
on." 

Ex. xx. 9, 10. Ex. xvi. 23. Luke, xxiii. 54. 

The proper observance of the day of rest in a 
family depends very greatly upon the care of the 
mistress of the house, and especially upon the 
use which is made of the " preparation " day. 
Let it be considered a sacred duty to see that 
everything which can be done on the previous 
day, be attended to, that the Lord's Day may be 
indeed a day of rest and freedom from earthly 
care. 

" Domestics should be allowed," observes the 
writer last quoted, " as far as may be possible, 
the enjoyment of the benefits of the Lord's Day. 
'The Sabbath was made for man,' it was made 
for them. Although works of necessity and 
mercy are then lawful, it is wrong to demand of 
our servants anything that lieth beyond the limit 
marked by these two terms. If we use the 



100 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Lord's Day as a day of feasting, and to this end 
lay on our domestics heavy tasks, keeping them 
at home to be engrossed with fatiguing drudg- 
ery, we not only wrong our own souls, but we 
' feast on our servants' birthright.' The sacred 
hours of the Sabbath, beyond the limit already 
designated, belong to them as their Heavenly 
Father's gift, and it is treating them unjustly to 
deprive them of that time which has been set 
apart for them to employ in laying up that moral 
treasure which moth and rust cannot corrupt." 

xvn. 

"Use hospitality one to another without grudging." 
u Be not forgetful to entertain strangers : for thereby some 
have entertained angels unawares." 

" Distributing to the necessity of saints ; given to hospi- 
tality." 

/. Pet. iv. 9. Beb. xiii. 2. Bom. xii. 13. 

Hospitality is a household virtue most fre- 
quently inculcated in Holy Scripture by the 
example of saints, as well as by direct precept. 
The hospitality which the Bible commends is 
not that worldly policy which graciously enter- 
tains those from whom a recompense is expected, 
nor is it the vain love of display which makes a 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 101 

feast and throws wide open the portals, to win 
the envious admiration of a heartless throng. 

True Christian hospitality is prompted and 
sustained by unselfishness and disinterested kind- 
ness • it will exert itself as actively for the com- 
fort of the lowly wayfarer who may be thrown 
upon our care, as for that of the rich and honored 
guest. Above all, it will ever esteem it a privi- 
lege to receive and entertain those who are of the 
common household of faith. 

The hospitality which is most grateful to the 
recipient, shows itself in a courteous, yet unob- 
trusive, attention to the wants of the guest, and 
by making him feel fully at his ease and at 
home. 

The Jews of old were commanded to show 
special attention and kindness to strangers so- 
journing among them, and it would be well if 
more of this hospitable and kindly spirit could 
be infused into our Christian communities. 

Not in the great cities alone, but in many a 
place where there is far less excuse or apology 
for the neglect, rare opportunities of doing good 
are lost through selfish or indolent ignoring of 
the claims of the stranger or sojourner. 
9* 



102 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

How many a youth, for instance, might have 
been saved from the paths of the destroyer, if 
some friendly hand had but beckoned him occa- 
sionally within the charmed precincts of a Chris- 
tian home. 

" Love ye, therefore, the stranger." And see 
to it, ye who have in your power to dispense the 
blessing of a Christian hospitality, that ye hear 
not at last the accusation, " I was a stranger, and 
ye took me not in." 

xvni. 

"Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to 
edification." 

" Charity seeketh not her own." 

"Let us therefore follow after the things . . . wherewith 
one may edify another." 

Bom. xv. 2. I. Cor. xiii. 5. Bom. xiv. 19. 

14 Sheltered, but not to social duties lost ; 
Secluded, but not buried." 

It will be well, before closing this section, to 
glance at an error which is very apt to engraft 
itself upon the faithful fulfilment of home 
duties, which is the neglect of social work and 
of the calls of the Church. 

A faithful pastor thus feelingly alludes to the 



HOUSEHOLD CARES. 103 

"selfishness which mothers of families — Chris- 
tians beyond all doubt — are liable to contract " : 

" Some excellent persons," he observes, " are so 
short-sighted that they think their obligations 
are all discharged when domestic arrangements 
are kept in a proper train. They forget that the 
Master whom they serve has other duties for 
them, which should sometimes direct their steps 
abroad. 

" There is so much to respect and love in the 
class here described, that it is an ungrateful task 
to draw attention to faults. They are keepers 
at home, active, prudent, and industrious ; kind, 
gentle, and devout, never meddling with what 
does not concern them, and caring far more for 
the comfort and welfare of their households than 
for their own. 

"This is all commendable and right. But 
suppose every Christian should do so much, and 
no more. If no one is willing to go beyond her 
own family circle, who will attend to the sick ? 
Who will console the sorrowful ? Who is to in- 
struct the ignorant ? Who will wait upon the 
dying ? There must be some unselfish persons to 
be found, or all this work will be left undone." 



104 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

We cannot doubt that these words echo the 
sentiments of many a pastor who beholds Church 
work languishing which Christian women might 
be privileged to do. 

Selfishness may seem a hard term to apply to 
the fault of such characters as are described 
above, yet surely that is but an outgrowth of 
self-love which regards only the obligations clus- 
tering about one's own hearthstone, and is indif- 
ferent to any claims beyond. Doubtless there 
are many so fettered with incessant home care, 
that no outside labors could be asked or expect- 
ed of them; yet even these may send abroad 
their thoughts, sympathies, and prayers, keeping 
up their interest in the great field without that 
missionary spirit which should ever distinguish 
the members of the Church Christ. 



SECTION IV. 



Birth and Baptism 

OP 

CHILDREN. 



3xvt\) cmb Bctpfcm of (Efytlirren. 



" Mysterious to all thought 
A mother's prime of bliss, 
When to her eager lips is brought 
Her infant's thrilling kiss. 
Oh, never shall it set, the sacred light 
Which dawns that moment on her tender gaze 
In the eternal distance blending bright, 
Her darling's hope and hers, for love, and joy, and praise." 



I. 

" I have gotten a man from the Lord." 

" Lo, children are an heritage and gift that cometh of 

the Lord." 

" The children which God hath graciously given thy ser- 
vant." 

Gen. iv. 1. Ps. cxxvii. 3. Gen. xxxiii. 5. 

Among the touchingly-beautiful descriptions 
of domestic life which the Bible contains, none 
speak more to the heart, because none are more 
true to nature, than those which tell of the birth 
of children. 

The warm congratulations of the friends of 
Naomi, and of the neighbors and cousins of 
Elizabeth; the grateful joy of Hannah; the 
glad hope of the parents of Noah, as they ex- 



108 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

claim, " This same shall comfort us ; " the patri- 
arch Jacob pausing in the midst of his heavy- 
sorrow to bless his bereaved babe, and call him 
Benjamin; and, before all these, the rapture of 
the first mother, as she names her firstborn Cain, 
an acquisition, and exclaims, " I have gotten a 
man from the Lord ! " These, and many similar 
portions of narrative, while each one conveys 
its own peculiar instruction, speak also to the 
quick sympathy of parents, causing the thoughts 
to turn fondly upon their own heritage and gift 
from the Lord. 

It has ever been so through the generations of 
man, and let us thank God it is so still, that 
gloomy forebodings and carking cares, even the 
remembrance of recent anguish, are forgotten on 
receiving the new gift of life — " for joy that a 
man is born into the world." 

It is a natural, and therefore a right, feeling 
which prompts the glad welcome to the new- 
born infant, and sends a thrill of thanksgiving 
and hope through the hearts of parents and 
friends. Surely, they can have small sympathy 
with the mind of the great All-Father, who can 
regard such an event with coldness, or look upon 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 109 

little ones as an incumbrance. And is not that 
a weak faith which can see only the snares and 
pitfalls in the path of the young heir of immor- 
tality, the ills and sorrows which he must en- 
counter here below and cannot look beyond, in 
the true spirit of the Christian mother, who 

" Joys that one is born 
Into a world forgiven, 
Her Father's household to adorn, 
And dwell with her in heaven." 



II. 

" And man became a living soul." 

" Who hath despised the day of small things ? " 

u Out of weakness were made strong." 

Gen. ii. 7. Zech. iv. 10. Heb. xi. 34. 

Amid the rejoicings with which the infant 
stranger is hailed, the outpouring of love which 
meets him, the tender hopes which cluster 
around him, oh, let it not be forgotten what a 
weighty trust is here committed to the parents' 
keeping. 

How truly says our Lord, " A man is born into 
the world," reminding us in the midst of paren- 
tal joy, of parental responsibility. 

Yes, this unconscious babe, clinging in help- 
10 



110 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

lessness to the mother's breast, is an immortal 
being; "folded up" in that tiny frame are the 
human powers which shall rapidly expand, to 
prove a blessing or a curse upon the earth ; mys- 
teriously linked with that feeble spark of life, 
which one rude touch might quench, is the un- 
dying spirit which shall rejoice forever before 
the throne of God, or, wilfully straying from the 
paths of peace, shall dwell in eternal banishment 
from His presence. 

In the forcible words of a living divine, " The 
child is the beginning of a being which is to last 
always, whose weal or woe is to run parallel with 
the existence of its Maker. It is a lamp kindled 
never to go out, a spring welling forth to flow 
forever, the shooting of a seed that shall not 
wither, nor cease to yield fruit eternally. "What 
solemnity attaches to the beginning of such a 
creature ! Who will look upon a child thought- 
lessly, or treat it carelessly — spark of the heaven- 
ly beginning to shine upon the earth — germ of 
an existence that is to outlast the earth itself 1 " 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. Ill 

in. 

" I will save thy children." 

" Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto 
Me." 

" He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, 
and blessed them." 

Isa. xlix. 25. Matt. xix. 14. Mark, x. 16. 

Thoughts, such as the above, of the never- 
dying soul, whose existence has now begun — rec- 
ollections of the evil that is in the world 
upon which the young probationer has entered 
— of his inborn tendencies to evil — of the ad- 
versary who lieth in wait to destroy — oh I how 
justly might these overwhelm our hearts with 
alarm and distress, were there no refuge in which 
to place our imperilled offspring, no shield to 
protect them but an arm of flesh. 

But blessed be the name of the Lord, the Re- 
deemer of our souls, the arms of His mercy are 
outstretched to receive these precious objects of 
our solicitude. Now, as when on earth, He com- 
mands them to be brought unto Him, He blames 
those who would keep them from Him, He de- 
clares, " Of such is the kingdom of God." 

And lest this, His outward gesture and deed, 
should be misunderstood, He charged upon His 



112 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Church to receive, to feed and nurture these lit- 
tle ones, and to despise them not. 

And, to use the words of Bishop Doane, " The 
Church is faithful to her Lord, in bringing little 
children to them in Infant Baptism. The in- 
fant sufferer is born into a world of sorrow and 
of sin, the heir at once of both. At the first 
threshold of his being the Saviour's spouse 
comes out to meet him. 

" She bears him to the bleeding Cross ; she 
laves him in the fountain which flows from it, 
'for sin and for uncleanness ' ; she signs him 
with its sacred sign. 

" It is the signature of heaven upon his brow, 
and in his heart. He is born again of water, 
and of the Spirit. He is the child of God, by 
adoption and grace. . . . She secures for him, 
while worldlings would be caring for his fortune 
or his rank, a title to the purchase of the Cross, 
a portion in the heritage of heaven. He is an 
heir, through hope, of the eternal kingdom, by 
the merits of the most precious death of the 
only begotten Son of God." 



BERTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 113 



IV. 

44 Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord ; as long as 

he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 

"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me 
and yon and thy seed after thee.'" 

1 ■ They brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the 
Lord ; as it is written in the law of the Lord." 

L Sam. i. 28. Gen. xvii. 10. Luke, ii. 22,23. 

The baptism of our little ones, like every 
other act of covenant with God, has a twofold 
aspect. Not only do we crave for them the gra- 
cious smile of the Lord, not only do we seek 
for them safety and peace within the fold, but 
we bring them with the solemn vow of dedica- 
tion upon our lips, yielding them to be the chil- 
dren of the Lord, pledging them to His faithful 
service. 

This devotion of their children to Him in sol- 
emn covenant has been required by God of His 
people, in all ages, from the days of faithful 
Abraham. Surely the heart of every Christian 
parent will adoringly acknowledge the reasona- 
bleness of this demand, and obediently comply 
with it. 

Let us rejoice that we are privileged to follow 
in the footsteps of Hannah of old ; of her, also, 
10* 



114 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

who was " blessed among women," and of all 
those faithful ones who, from age to age, have 
gone up to the temple with meek gratitude and 
fervent purpose, bearing their choicest treasure, 
the most precious gifts of the Lord, to present 
them unto Him. 

And, while hastening to fulfil this our bound- 
en duty and service, let our hearts go with the 
outward act in a solemn, earnest surrender of 
the child to God, to be no more our own, but 
the Master's ; to be trained as His servant in all 
holy obedience to His will ; yea, to be yielded 
unmurmuringly at His call, though, as with Sam- 
uel, that call should be to minister before the 
Lord, apart from loving kindred, or though a 
sword should pierce through our souls, as the 
dedicated one is summoned to join the worship- 
ping throng in a brighter sphere. 



V. 

11 Take this child away, and nurse it forme, and I will give 
thee thy wages." 

" Happy art thou, O Israel : who is like unto thee, O peo- 
ple saved by the Lord I " 

" He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto 
our God." 

Ex. ii. 9. Deut. xxxiii. 29. Ps. xl. 3. 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 115 

"But happiest ye, who, sealed and blest, 
Back to your arms your treasure take 
With Jesus' mark impressed 
To nurse for Jesus' sake ! " 

Let us picture to our minds the feelings of 
the mother of Moses, when the tide of anxiety 
which had overwhelmed her heart was sudden- 
ly turned, and the child for whom she had suf- 
fered a thousand torturing fears was rescued 
from his perilous exposure, taken, as an adopted 
son, into royal protection, and, wearing a new 
name, the token of his princely heirship, restored 
to her yearning bosom, to be nurtured as the 
privileged child of a king ! 

Hear, now, in this utterance of Pharaoh's 
daughter, the voice of the Church, speaking in 
the name of her Lord to each Christian mother, 
as she receives again her infant from the Font, 
no longer a stranger, an alien, a child of wrath, 
but the child of God by adoption, the heir of the 
heavenly kingdom, to be nurtured as befits his 
glorious inheritance, under Almighty protection, 
with the help of Almighty grace. 

And, as if this were not sufficient cause for 
boundless gratitude, it is added, " I will give 



116 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



thee thy wages." The wages, the sure promises 
so dear to parents' hearts, that they do " not 
labor for naught " ; that the children thus saved 
by the Lord, and nurtured according to His 
command, shall be as jewels in their crown of 
rejoicing forever ! 

VI. 

4 'Feed my lambs.' ' 

" Watch, . . . as they that must give account." 
"Bring them np in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord." 

John, xxi. 15. Heb. xiii. 17. Eph. vi. 4. 

" Take this child and nurse it for Me." Oh, 
may we not forget that these consecrated little 
ones are to be reared for the Lord ! 

"Remember," so the Church admonishes, 
" that it is your part and duty to see that this 
infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to 
learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profes- 
sion he hath here made by you. Ye shall pro- 
vide that he may learn all things which a Chris- 
tian ought to know and believe to his soul's 
health, and that this child may be virtuously 
brought up to lead a godly and a Christian 
life." 

Let us have always, therefore, printed in our 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 117 

remembrance, how great a treasure is committed 
to our charge. They are the lambs of the Sav- 
iour's flock, which He bought with His death, 
and for whom He shed His blood. 

Let us, therefore, be solemnly mindful of the 
end of our ministry toward these children of 
God, and see that we never cease our labor, our 
care, and diligence, until we have done all that 
lieth in us, according to our bounden duty, to 
bring them up in that faith and knowledge of 
God, and to that ripeness and perfectness of 
growth in Christ, that they shall be secure from 
error in doctrine, and free from all viciousness of 
life. 

vn. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go : and when he is 
old, he will not depart from it." 

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath 
"begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of 
Jesus Christ." 

" I know him, that he will command his children and his 
household after him, and they shall Jceep the ways of the 
Lord." Prov. xxii. 6. Phil. i. 6. Gen. xviii. 19, 

" Dispute the grace of baptism as some may 
it is certain that God honors His sacrament, and 
that where the little one is brought to it in 
prayer and faith, and earnestly and judiciously 



118 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

trained to live the rest of its life according to 
that beginning, there can hardly be too large 
expectations from God, nor failure or disappoint- 
ment in them, in the after years of the baptized. 

" The main point, so far as parents, sponsors, 
and friends are concerned, is, to have preeminent 
the desire that the child may be the Lord's, and 
to have all the education and nurture bear wit- 
ness to the supremacy of that desire. 

" If an infant be brought to the sacrament mere- 
ly in compliance with custom, and to receive a 
name, but with no large expectations of the grace 
of the Holy Spirit ; and if, in succeeding years, 
while professedly desiring the salvation of their 
children, the real, prominent wish with parents 
is, that their sons may be shrewd, successful men 
of business, and their daughters accomplished, 
and handsomely settled, and the Searcher of 
hearts knows that it is so, and that all home in- 
fluences are for the world, what wonder if there 
be no blessing, but the answer should be, not 
according to the request of the lips, but accord- 
ing to the multitude of the idols of the heart of 
those who seek unto Him ! 

" Let God see that, in all the parental rela- 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 119 

tion, His favor is the ruling object of desire for 
the child, and the blessing will surely come ; 
while the desire will mould the agencies by 
which it shall come, so that the training shall 
not defeat the wish. Children trained with such 
an aim may not indeed shine in gay society, nor 
form grand alliances, nor rank among the rich 
of this world, but they shall gain the blessing of 
the Lord, and life forevermore ! " 

VIII. 

" The promise is unto you, and to your children." 
" Exceeding great and precious promises. " 
M Hath He said, and shall He not doit ? or hath He spok- 
en, and shall He not make it good ? " 

Acts, ii. 39. II. Pet. i. 4. Numb, xxiii. 19. 

God's promises are yea and Amen, in Christ 
Jesus. "He covenants large blessings to be- 
lieving parents, and He is a covenant-keeping 
God. He promises in baptism to receive the lit- 
tle one, to release him from sin, to sanctify him 
with the Holy Ghost, to give him the kingdom 
of Heaven, and make him partake of everlast- 
ing life ; which promise He, for His part, will 
most surely keep and perform to those who on 
their part fulfil the covenant of the Sacrament. 



120 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



" Now no Christian parent will ever dream of 
boasting of faithfulness, or of meriting eternal 
life for children ; salvation is all of grace. Yet 
parents may know, that amid much of frailty 
and sin, they do sincerely and preeminently 
labor to be faithful in the covenant, — that they 
have earnestly sought its blessings for them- 
selves and theirs, and valued God's favor as the 
best portion for all; and, where there is this 
consciousness, it should give humble, yet strong 
trust, that God for Christ's sake will fulfil to 
them and theirs the promises of the covenant of 
grace. 

" If none but the perfect could claim these 
promises, they would be all unclaimed. It is to 
those who are perfect in Christ, that they are 
yea and Amen. Therefore, believing parents, 
who have good hope for themselves, may be en- 
couraged to hope from God's covenanted word, 
that their children also shall go with them to 
the promised land, and that God will not easily 
leave them behind in Egypt, nor cast them off 
forever. 

" It would be presumptuous so to build on 
this foundation as to say absolutely, as was said 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 121 

to the mother of St. Augustine, the child of so 
many prayers and tears cannot be lost ; or, for 
the graceless son to say, I shall never perish, for 
my parents pray for me. Yet these are only ex- 
tremes, and perversions of a right faith. God 
makes ability and responsibility commensurate; 
nor does He make us the authors of being with- 
out giving us power to render that being 
blessed." 

IX. 

" I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing 
upon thine offspring." 

" The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the 
heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God." 

"As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the 
Lord ; My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I 
have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of 
thy seed's seed, saith the Lord." 

Isa. xliv. 3. Deut. xxx. 6. Isa. lix. 21. 

" It is the part of the parent to remember that 
1 regeneration ' in the Standards of the Church, 
does not mean what is called ' a change of 
heart.' In saying that a child is regenerated in 
baptism, we do not say that if left to himself, 
untaught and uncared for, he will not go to de- 
struction, nor fall before temptation. This 
11 



122 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 






sacrament works no such magical change. But 
the sacrament does bring the child into covenant 
with God ; and into the Church, — the visible 
family of the Redeemer ; and the Divine Head 
of that family bestows the promised gift of the 
Holy Ghost, by which the faithful instructions 
of his earthly parents will be brought to a sav- 
ing effect. There remains in the baptized 
child, as truly as in any other, that tendency to 
sin which is born in us all, the same blindness 
to truth, the same aversion to duty. But he is 
in this different from others, that to him the 
promise of the Spirit, and of His help to en- 
lighten, to convince of sin, and to renew unto 
righteousness, belongs of covenant right This 
promise we can, and ought to plead with God 
for our children, and this promise He for His 
part will most surely keep and perform." 



"Pour out thine heart . . . before the face of the 
Lord ; lift up thine hands toward Him, for the life of thy 
young children." 

" He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and 
mercy with them that love Him, and keep His command- 
ments, to a thousand generations." 

" And Abraham said unto God, Oh, that Ishmael might 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 123 

live before Thee ! . . . . And God said, ... As for 
Ishmael, I have heard thee." 

Sam. ii. 19. Dent. vii. 9. Gen. xvii. 18-20. 

In a previous section we have alluded to the 
privilege of prayer for our children, as one of 
which the most thoughtless parents are fain, at 
times, to avail themselves. Oh, then, how un- 
utterably precious must it be to the heart of the 
believing father or mother ! 

How does it strengthen our faith in the prom- 
ises to plead them with God at the mercy-seat! 
How does it soothe our anxieties for our pre- 
cious ones, to commend them, again and again, 
unto Him who is able to keep them from fall- 
ing! 

Let us remember that prayer for our children 
is not only our privilege, but our solemn duty. 
For thus saith the Lord, in whose covenant 
mercy we place our hope, " I will yet for this be 
inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for 
them." "God forbid," then, "that we should 
sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for" 
those whom He has committed unto us, and 
whom we are seeking to lead in " the good and 
the right way." 

Among the many texts upon which we may 



124 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



draw for our encouragement in this duty, let us 
consider one which is peculiarly our own, ap- 
pealing, as it does, to the very instincts of par- 
ental love as an argument that the Almighty 
Father will not cast out our prayer. " I say unto 
you, ask, and it shall be given you. ... If 
a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a 
father, will he give him a stone ? ... If ye 
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
unto your children, how much more shall your 
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask Him ! "—Luke, xi. 9-13. 



XL 

"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth 
us." 

41 Covet earnestly the best gifts." 

41 Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children, 
with her sons, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing 
of Him. . . . But Jesus answered and said, Ye know 
not what ye ask." 

I. John, v. 14. I. Cor. xii. 31. Matt, xx. 20-22, 

" Ye know not what ye ask." Ah, how much 
oftener than we dream of may it be the case 
that our heart's desire and prayer for our loved 
ones, " uttered or unexpressed," may be for that 
which, if granted, would effectually blight our 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 125 

fondest and purest hopes concerning them, and 
prove a curse rather than a blessing ! 

Let us adapt to our need the fervent words of 
Bishop Andrews: Lord, Thou understand- 
est, Thou canst accomplish, Thou dost truly and 
earnestly desire the safety and good of these, 
Thy children. "We have neither understanding 
to discern, nor power to effect, nor, as we ought 
to have, even will to desire and seek their true 
and best good ; do Thou, therefore, O God, of 
Thy unspeakable tenderness and love, vouchsafe 
to direct and guide, to govern and dispose of 
them, that they may be Thine forever ! 

XII. 

" The Lord hath been mindful of us ; He will bless ns ; 
. . He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and 
great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and 
your children." 

" I will establish my covenant . . . to be a God unto 
thee, and to thy seed after thee." 

" Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear Him." 

Ps. cxv. 12-14. Gen. xvii. 7. Ps. ciii. 13. 

No space has been given in these pages to 

direct argument against the objections raised by 

the opponents of infant baptism ; and it is not 

likely that this work will fall into the hands of 

11* 



126 



THE CHBISTIAN MOTHER. 



any such. Yet it is possible that among its 
readers may be some, who, while allowing the 
duty, and availing themselves of the privilege 
of bringing their children to this sacrament, may 
not have been led heretofore to place that strong 
reliance upon the promises of God, made there- 
in, in which they would be most surely justified; 
and consequently have not taken to themselves 
the comfort which, if they be true Christian 
parents, their covenant God does most truly de- 
sign for them. 

To such it may appear that we have taken 
too strong ground in interpreting the passages 
quoted ; that we are not warranted in building 
upon them the edifice of so firm and joyful a 
hope concerning the salvation of our children. 

Dear Christian friends, you are entreated to 
read over, once more, the texts of Holy Writ 
which have been collated in this section. Pon- 
der them with the comment which the Church 
herself furnishes, and see if you can fail to de- 
rive from them such assurance of hope as shall 
be an unspeakable comfort to your souls, amid 
the anxieties which must be inseparable from 
the parental relation so long as we and our loved 






BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 127 

ones are tossed on the waves of this troublesome 
world. 

Consider, further, the verses which preface 
these remarks. See how, int hese again, our God 
recognizes the principle of parental affection 
which Himself has implanted, and employs it 
to interpret His own everlasting love for His 
people. 

" You and your children." " I will be a God 
to thee and to thy seed after thee," spake the 
Lord to Abraham, and are not we, which be of 
faith, blessed with faithful Abraham in this, as 
in other things ? Could we deem ourselves fully 
blessed in this life, in that which our children 
shared not ? 

Let not, then, our faith be slow to admit, con- 
cerning our children who have been received 
into the flock of Christ, that " it is the Father's 
good pleasure to give them the kingdom." Let 
us thankfully labor as " workers together with 
God " for these souls which are " His husband- 
ry," which are " His building," with the blessed 
hope in our hearts that " our sons shall grow up 
as the young plants, and our daughters be as the 
polished corners of the Temple," to His eternal 
praise. 



128 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



xm. 

"They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, 
for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their 
offspring with them." 

" Else were your children unclean, but now are they 
holy." 

11 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting 
upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto chil- 
dren's children." 

Isa. lxv. 23. I. Cor, vii. 14. Ps. ciii. 17. 

We cannot close this section without introduc- 
ing the following passage from the writings of 
the " Chrysostom " of our Mother Church : 

" We hear it spoken, in our books of religion, 
that the faith of the parents is imputed to their 
children to good purposes, and that a good hus- 
band sanctifies an ill wife, and a believing wife 
an unbelieving husband, and either of them 
makes the children to be sanctified, i else were they 
unclean and unholy ; that is, the very design- 
ing children to the service of God is a sanctifica- 
tion of them, and therefore St. Jerome calls 
Christian children candidates fidei Christiance. 
And if this very designation of them makes them 
holy — that is, acceptable to God, entitled to the 
promises, partakers of the covenant, within the 
condition of sons — much more shall it be effec- 



BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 120 

tual to greater blessings when the parents take 
care that the children shall be actually pious, full 
of sobriety, full of religion ; then it becomes a 
holy house, a chosen generation, an elect family. 
"And then there can no evil happen to them, 
but such which will bring them nearer to God; 
that is, no cross but the cross of Christ, no mis- 
fortune but that which shall lead to felicity ; and 
if any semblance of a curse happens in the gen- 
erations, it is but like the anathema of a sacri- 
fice — not an accursed, but a devoted thing — for 
so the sacrifice upon whose neck the priest's 
knife doth fall, is so far from being accursed 
that it helps to get a blessing to all that join in 
the oblation. So, every misfortune that shall 
discompose the ease of a pious and religious 
family, shall but make them fit to be presented 

unto God No evil can curse the family 

whose stock is pious, and whose c branches are 
holiness unto the Lord.' If any leaf or any 
boughs shall fall untimely, God shall gather 
them up and place them in His temple, or at the 
foot of His throne ; and that family must needs 
be blessed whom infelicity itself cannot make 
accursed." 



SECTION Y. 



Religions Training 

OF 

CHILDREN. 



Heltgtou0 (Braining of (Hfytlfttm 



1 That call not education which decries 
God and His truth, content the seed to strew 
Of moral maxims, and the mind imbue 
With elements, which form the worldly wise. 
So call the training which can duly prize 
Such lighter lore, but chiefly holds to view 
What God requires us to believe and do ; 
And notes man's end, and shapes him for the skies.' 



"Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord.". 

14 Oh, my Lord, .... teach us what we shall do unto the 

child How shall we order the child, and what shall 

we do unto him?" 

14 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and 
it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith." 

Eph. vi. 4. Judg. xiii. 8-12. James i. 5-6. 

From the waters of baptism we receive our 
children, as it were, a second time from the Lord, 
with the renewed injunction, " Train them up in 
the way they should go." " Bring them up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord." "With 
what earnestness, then, should every Christian 
parent seek to know the mind and will of the 
12 



134 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



Lord in this matter, breathing the prayer of 
Manoah, " Oh, my Lord, teach us what we shall 
do unto the child." 

And, as in Manoah's case, the prayer of faith 
shall receive an answer ; the wisdom which we 
feel we so greatly lack our God will surely bestow 
upon every diligent and humble seeker. 

In this solemn matter, as in all things that 
pertain unto life and godliness, the Sacred Word 
must be our guide and counsellor. We may well 
believe that "the Christian mother may be 
* thoroughly furnished ' for her important duties 
by a diligent study of that Book which is able 
to make both herself and her children wise unto 
salvation." 

It will be our aim in this section to collate 
such passages of Scripture as seem to throw more 
immediate light upon our duty in the nurture 
and education of our children, and may our re- 
flections upon them be blessed to our help and 
guidance in the momentous work of rearing the 
children of the Lord. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 135 



n. 

"He that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not 
worthy of Me." 

" Dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.' 1 

"Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My 
daughters . . . even every one that is called by My name : for 
I have created him for My glory." 

Matt. x. 37 I. Cor. x. 14. Isa. xliii. 6-7. 

A few solemn questions are suggested by these 
verses, for the consideration of every parent. 

Are we looking upon these children as ex- 
clusively our own, or as the children of the 
Lord? 

Do we pursue their education and train- 
ing as a means to their usefulness in God's ser- 
vice, or simply that they may minister to our 
comfort, our honor, and our pride ? 

Is our affection for these beloved ones subor- 
dinate to the love of God, or are we, in this re- 
spect, guilty of setting up idols in our hearts ? 

Do we, in all our thoughts and purposes con- 
cerning them, " give them up " to the will of 
Him who formed them for His glory, and by 
whose Name they are called, or do we in the se- 
cret of our hearts " keep them back " from such 
high devotion, indulging fond schemes of pur 



136 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



own for their earthly happiness and aggrandize- 
ment, and thus for our delight in them ? 

The candid answer which conscience renders 
to these inquiries will determine whether the 
training which we are giving to the children in- 
trusted to us be of a religious or a worldly 
nature. 

For, what is meant by training a child ? To 
train is to discipline, to practise, to instruct for 
some future struggle ; as soldiers are trained and 
disciplined before going into conflict, or are pre- 
pared by slight engagements before they are 
brought into a pitched battle. Evidently, then, 
training implies some purpose, some object ; if 
there be no definite object enshrined in the par- 
ent's heart, the training will be irregular, desul- 
tory, inefficient, or, more likely, the child will 
be untrained. 

Our baptized children, in fulfilment of the 
vows we have uttered in their name, are to be 
trained, oh, let us remember, as the enlisted sol- 
diers of Christ — the sworn servants of the Most 
High. Each is pledged at his Baptism to con- 
fess Christ crucified, and to fight manfully under 
His banner against sin, the world, and the devil. 



EELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 137 

Each parent and sponsor not only pledges his 
child to this, but pledges himself to train and 
instruct him to do this, so soon as he shall be 
able to learn. 

The Christian child, then, " is to be educated 
not for itself, not for the parent, not for the 
world, but for God who gave it. Devoted to 
Him from the birth, brought up in His fear, in- 
structed in His laws, trained to obey His "Word, 
to be actively engaged in His service, to live to 
His glory." 

III. 

"In the morning sow thy seed." 

11 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." 

"Babes in Christ." 

Eccl. xi. 6. Matt, xviii. 10. I. Cor. iii. 1. 

" This culture, this training of the youthful 
heir of immortality,' ' remarks a wise and reve- 
rend writer, " ought to commence at a far earlier 
period than people are commonly aware of. In 
husbandry our care begins long before the pro- 
cess of vegetation is at all apparent. "We water 
the ground before the first shoot appears, and 
from the moment it does appear our carefulness 
knows not intermission. 
11* 



138 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

" And so it ought to be in God's husbandry. 
The infant mind puts forth its shoots with the 
first dawnings of sensation, and at this period 
it is that the most lasting and valuable impres- 
sions may be made. The animal and sensitive 
parts of our nature are then in full vigor, and 
as these are then treated the future happiness or 
future misery of the human being will, to an 
incalculable extent, be determined. 

<k For it may be safely affirmed, on the author- 
ity and from the experience of those who are 
best qualified to speak on such subjects, that, 
even before reason is perceptibly unfolded, the 
appetites, the passions, the affections, take their 
bias toward evil or toward good." 



IV. 

" But Hannah went not np ; for she said unto her husband, 
I will not go up until the child be weaned, ... So the 
woman abode . . . until she had weaned him." 

*' We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth 
her children." 

" For who hath despised the day of small things ? " 

/. Sam. i. 22, 53 1. Thess. ii. 7. Zech. iv. 10. 

" Can a woman forget her sucking child ? " 

. . . " Yea, they may forget," is the response 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 139 

given to this question in the Word of Truth, 
and too often do we seem to behold the asser- 
tion realized. Too often do we see tender, im- 
pressible infancy intrusted to such care and 
guardianship as betokens, if not utter negli- 
gence in the mother, at least an entire forgetful- 
ness of all but the mere animal nature and wants 
of her child. 

Says Dr. Yinton : " The duty of bringing up 
a child in the nurture of the Lord, begins with 
the very commencement of the parental relation. 
In the cradle, — sooner than that, — in the first 
maternal embrace, for aught that can be shown 
to the contrary, there may be, with the pressure 
of those loving arms, an influence that shall im- 
press the soul just shaped for eternity. 

" In the mingling glances which shoot from 
those eyes looking into each other, why may not 
the mother's gaze, glistening with the vivid fire 
of parental love, waken magnetic impulses in 
the breast of the child, as well as the lambent 
light of his own laughing look rouse up in Jbhe 
mother's bosom a stronger yearning of tender- 
ness ? In the secrecy of that nursing chamber 
there may thus be going on an intercourse of 



140 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



unutterable power, to stir the leading impulses 
of the whole future life. 

"If such a thing be even possible, and it is 
more than that, it should teach every Christian 
mother the sacred value of her early influence, 
and should warn her not to delegate to a cold- 
hearted substitute the paramount office which 
God and nature have devolved implicitly upon 
herself. 

" Throughout the whole period of infancy, 
the Christian mother has the same responsibil- 
ity, and greater facilities for training the moral 
nature of her child. Before the thinking powers 
are developed the sensibilities have their activ- 
ity, and make up the infant's life. These may 
be excited and swayed in many ways. The 
sweet dreams of his mother's lap may be asso- 
ciated in his mind forever with the music of the 
saints, with which he was sung to sleep. The 
calmness of maternal piety, bearing with his 
fretful temper, may keep in the back-ground a 
crowd of passions that might have been angered 
by a nurse's petulance." 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 141 



Y. 

41 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child." 
" Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." 
" By nature the children of wrath." 

Pro®, xxii. 15. Ps. li. 5. Eph. ii. 3. 

In considering the training which should be 
given to a child, it is of vast importance to have 
clearly in our minds the nature of the being we 
are to work upon, and the difficulties and 
hindrances we must expect to meet with. 

To the mother, gazing upon the innocent, 
peaceful face of her child, in early infancy, it 
seems hard to realize the solemn truth which is 
most plainly inculcated in the verses cited 
above, and in many similar passages. Hence 
many too easily fall in with the fanciful theories 
and educational systems so prevalent in our day ; 
which, being based on false, unscriptural views, 
must result in failure and disappointment. 

The advocates of such theories are fond of 
describing the infant mind as a pure white 
tablet, upon which we may inscribe what 
we please. If it be a page without an inscrip- 
tion, experience proves that it will take some 



142 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



impressions far more readily than others. It is 
easier to inscribe thereon the love of pleasure of 
the world, than the love of God ; easier to in- 
culcate rebellion against authority than submis- 
sion to it. 

While then we delight ourselves with the art- 
lessness of childhood, and its winsome ways, let 
us not forget to be ever prayerfully on the 
watch, as those whose eyes have been enlight- 
ened by the unerring Word of Truth, for the 
buddings of that evil nature with which we are 
warned we must contend. 

Underneath this seeming guilelessness lurks 
that " carnal mind," in warring against which 
the child of God is to find his life-long struggle. 

Of what can that Christian parent be think- 
ing, who can find subject for amusement in the 
early indications of the presence of this foe ; 
instead of watching to cripple its strength, and 
arm the babe in Christ most carefully against it ! 



VI. 

" Children, obey your parents in the Lord : for this is right. 
Honor thy father and mother ; which is the first com- 
mandment with promise ; that it may be well with thee.'* 



RELIGIOUS TRALNLNG OF CHILDREN. 143 

" Children, obey your parents in all things : for this is well 
pleasing nnto the Lord." 

Eph. vi. 1, 2, 3. Col. iii. 20. 

Again, and more solemnly, must the question 
return, What are the Divinely-appointed meth- 
ods by the use of which we may hope to train up 
our offspring in the way they should go ? 

Of these, second only in importance to the 
covenant-grace of God humbly sought for them 
in the Sacrament, we must rank parental disci- 
pline and authority. 

Some writer remarks, " It might almost be said 
that to the infant mind the fifth is the first and 
great commandment — that it is the germ of all 
its discipline, the scale by which it ascends to 
God." 

To see the force of this observation, let us con- 
ider in what true religion mainly consists. Is it 
not in yielding our will to the will of God, our 
reason to His guidance ? Is it not in the obedi- 
ence of faith ? 

Now, to the infant, the parent is in God's 
stead, and the great lesson of submission — of 
bending his own will — must be learned in acts of 
submission to this Divinely-appointed authority. 



144 



THE CHRISTIAN" MOTHER. 



Must it not be comparatively easy for a child 
early trained to implicit obedience to yield in 
obedience to the will of his Heavenly Father, 
as it is revealed to his expanding intellect ? 

To " honor and obey their father and mother," 
then, is the first lesson we are to teach our chil- 
dren, as the very foundation of a true Christian 
nurture. This discipline should begin as early 
as possible ; indeed, with the first dawning of 
intelligence. As soon as the little one is capable 
of noticing a look or tone of disapproval, it is a 
proper subject for parental control. No one who 
has not witnessed the experiment tried with firm, 
patient, prayerful effort, would believe at what 
a tender age an infant may be taught to recog- 
nize and submit to a tone of authority. 



vn. 

" I have told him that I will judge his house for ever . . . 
because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained 
them not." 

"How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have 
forsaken Me." 

" Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest ; yea, he shall 
give delight unto thy soul." 

/. Sam. iii. 13. Jer. v. 7. Prov. xxix. IT. 

The story of Eli, carefully perused, cannot 



RELIGIOUS TRAILING OF CHILDREN. 145 

fail to impress a candid mind with the truth 
that parents are required by God to rule their 
own households ; to guide their children by a 
wise and - firm restraint ; to demand, and if 
needful, to enforce, their obedience. 

It was not because he did not instruct his 
children diligently in the law of God, or seek to 
persuade them to observe it ; not because he did 
not pray for them ; not because he set them an 
evil example, that the heavy judgment of God 
fell upon Eli ; but because he did not enforce 
his teachings ; " he restrained them not." 

Nor is this a solitary example bearing upon 
this important subject. Holy Writ is full of 
warnings and commands in regard to it. 

" Withhold not correction from the child," we 
are told ; as if in so doing we should withhold 
what was most truly a blessing. 

And again, to the same purport — " He that 
spareth his rod, hateth his son; but he that 
loveth him chasteneth him betimes." 

And again, St. Paul demands, " What son is 
he whom the father chasteneth not ? " 

In these days we might rather ask, What son 
is he that is subjected to a wholesome discipline, 
13 



146 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



and constrained to reverence and obey his par- 
ents. 

It would seem, in looking around upon the 
youth of our time, and especially of this, our 
boasted land of freedom, as if we had indeed 
fallen upon the " perilous " times of the last days, 
when men should be " disobedient to parents, 
unthankful, unholy." 

The spirit of insubordination, misnamed inde- 
pendence, is a crying evil in our age ; and it takes 
its rise, and is nurtured, as, alas ! so many social 
evils are, in the bosom of the family — of so-called 
Christian families. 

Let parents awake to the earnest conviction 
that parental rule is no fit matter for idle jest ; 
the ofhce of " governor " and head of a house- 
hold is not one whose responsibilities may be 
lightly trifled with. 



Yin. 

" Lovers of their own selves." 

" What, my son ? and what, the son of my womb ? and 
what, the son of my vows ? " 

** Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul 
spare for his crying.' ■ 

II. Tim. iii. 2. Prov. xxxi. 2. Prov. xix. 18. 
The perversity and waywardness of the child 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 147 

is not the only nor perhaps the chief hindrance 
to a mother, in the exercise of a firm, conscien- 
tious discipline. 

To see her child merry and happy is her hour- 
ly delight ; its gleeful laugh is music in her 
ears ; in correcting it she inflicts much more 
pain upon her own feelings than upon the 
child ; to " spare her soul " the sound of his 
piteous u crying," she will refrain from thwart- 
ing his fancies or unreasonable desires, and neg- 
lect the needful measures of restraint. 

Alas, fond mother ! Too surely will this weak 
self-indulgence bring forth its legitimate fruit ; 
for the child thus " left to himself, bringeth his 
mother to shame." 

In nine cases out of ten his conduct is " bit- 
terness to her that bore him ; " in the natural 
course of cause and effect, the neglected child 
will " consume the eyes, and grieve the heart " 
of the weak, doting parent. 

In calling this laxity of discipline self-indul- 
gence, and attributing it to self-love, we speak 
advisedly. 

It has been most truly remarked, " The fond- 
ness of some mothers for their children is sim- 



148 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



ply the selfish gratification of an animal pas- 
sion, regardless of anything but its own present 
enjoyment, and supremely regardless of the ul- 
timate happiness of its object. It is the trans- 
ferred idolatry of a selfish nature to a second 
self." 

And, in the exercise of this instinctive mater- 
nal fondness, in utter indifference to the needs 
of the child's immortal being, the rational 
mother can lay claim to no higher sentiment 
than is displayed by the poor, unreasoning 
brute who exhibits the same beautiful instinct 
in the care and defence of her offspring. 

Let the Christian mother regard her child not 
only as a part of her own life, in the strong nat- 
ural affection she bears toward him, but as the 
mother of Samuel expressed herself, the " son 
of her vows " as well, of vows which may re- 
quire much self-denial and painful effort on her 
part, but which must be fulfilled, as she values 
the eternal well-being of the child entrusted to 
her. 



IX. 

11 He that ruleth (let him do it), with diligence." 
" Do as thou hast said." 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 149 

14 A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." 

Bom. xii. 8. I. Kings, xvii. 13. James, i. 8. 

In order that discipline may be of any avail, 
it is necessary that it be firm, steady , and uni- 
form ; not depending upon the caprice or cir- 
cumstances of the moment, but, as the child 
will soon learn to perceive, upon high and un- 
wavering principle. 

What can be more injurious to a child than 
to be at times severely punished for acts of dis- 
obedience, such as, on other occasions, and for 
reasons quite beyond his comprehension, are 
allowed to pass unnoticed beneath the parent's 
very eye ? 

Of course the child, not knowing when the 
parent may be in the humor to enforce a com- 
mand, will often disobey in hope of escaping 
the threatened penalty, and when punishment 
follows, it will irritate in proportion as it was 
unexpected. 

A great deal may be accomplished in the 
guidance and moulding of children, in minor 
matters, by persuasive tact, without positive 
commands and rules. 

In many points, in the daily management of 
13* 



150 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



active, heedless children, there is more call for 
the patient " line upon line, and precept upon 
precept," of gentle admonition, than for the di- 
rect exercise of authority. 

A wise parent will avoid unnecessary collision 
with the will of a child ; but at the same time, 
when a direct command is given, will never al- 
low it to be evaded, or disregarded. 

It is wonderful with what ingenuity a very 
young child, even, will attempt to break through 
the parental authority ; by watching an oppor- 
tunity when the parent is thought to be off from 
her guard ; by playful, coaxing arts, to avert 
displeasure ; or by venturing only a little way 
on the path of disobedience. 

In the case of sickly, nervous children, it is 
judged by many that the exercise of a firm au- 
thority is harsh and uncalled for ; that such a 
suffering little one should be allowed its own 
way when it cannot be coaxed into compliance 
with the wishes of its parents. 

On the contrary, it is the greatest mercy to 
such a child to teach it to yield implicit 
obedience to authority. This habit once formed, 
the child may be saved from much suffering by 






KELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 151 

the interposition of the calm, steady tone of 
command. 

X. 

''Provoke not your children to anger, lest they "be discour- 
aged." 

" Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, 
support the weak, be patient toward all." 

" Grievous words stir up anger." 

CoL iii. 21. /. Thess. v. 14. Prov. xv. 1. 

In speaking of parental authority, we are by 
no means to picture to our minds a stern, un- 
bending disciplinarian, with uplifted rod, ready 
to check all the gushing impulses of childhood. 

This species of government is as far removed 
from the spirit of the Bible as the laxity and 
fond indulgence which it so severely reprehends. 

Nor is it often found necessary, in a well-gov- 
erned family, to resort to severe punishment ; far 
less frequently will this occur than where the 
authority is fitfully asserted and irregularly 
maintained. 

We cannot too carefully remember that the 
discipline of a Christian household must be 
gentle and loving, as well as firm and steady. 
St. Paul twice utters the injunction, " Provoke 
not your children to wrath," which may help us 



152 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

to realize how prone are even affectionate and 
well-meaning parents to fall into this error. 

A harsh tone in commanding, or " grievous 
words " mingling with a needed admonition or 
deserved rebuke, is too often a source of real un- 
happiness to an amiable child, and of angry and 
rebellious emotions in the case of a stout-hearted 
offender. 

Besides, let us not forget that our children can 
readily discern between reproofs given in irrita- 
tion or resentment and those which are prompt- 
ed by love and administered with Christian gen- 
tleness. The former can but arouse the evil pas- 
sions of the child and diminish the influence of 
the parent, while the latter will seldom fail to 
touch the heart. 

As has been well said, " Commands which evi- 
dently now from love naturally dispose the heart 
to obey ; a child sees no hope of escaping from 
a system of discipline that seems to arise from 
the tenderness of a parent." 

A supreme love for the souls of our children, 
and a deep sense of our responsibility to God, 
can alone inspire and enable us to maintain that 
gentle, yet firm, authority which we have 



RELIGIOUS THAESTKG OF CHILDREN. 153 

endeavored to describe, and which is a most in- 
valuable aid in " training up a child in the way 
he should go." 

XI. 

" To the weak "became I as weak, that I might gain the 
weak." 

"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of 
the weak, and not to please ourselves." 

" The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." 

/. Cor. ix. 22. Rom. xv. 1. Jam. v. 11. 

A ready sympathy with the feelings of chil- 
dren, with their discouragements and perplexi- 
ties, is most needful in order to guide and govern 
them judiciously. 

We who have attained to maturity in the 
Christian life through years of experience, and 
are become in a measure accustomed to its disci- 
pline, are too apt to forget the roughness of the 
way to tender and untried feet, and to be impa- 
tient with the restive movements of the little 
one who is learning to tread this difficult path 
of self-denial and sel f-control. 

Let us recall the long suffering of our God in 
dealing with our waywardness and rebellion, 
and learn to be forbearing toward those who are 
just starting in the same narrow way. 



154 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

We should be watchfully on our guard against 
discouraging children by constant fault-finding, 
while at the same time we fail to notice their 
childish efforts to do right. Why should we 
not as readily bestow the smile and word of ap- 
proval, when they are evidently trying to do 
well, as the frown and censure when anything 
is seen amiss ? It is true there is danger, with 
some dispositions, of fostering a love of praise 
and approbation, yet it is seldom that a mother's 
quiet approval can do injury in this respect, and 
we are too apt to err on the other side. 

Another method of discouraging children is, 
as it has been well expressed, " by magnifying 
offences, and chastening the conscience with up- 
braidings." To assure a little offender, as has 
sometimes been done, that " he is the worst child 
we have ever seen," or otherwise to express 
astonishment and disgust at his depravity, is, 
to say the least, unbecoming in one who is also 
" compassed with infirmity," and who many a 
time, when the foot hath slipped, hath by re- 
deeming grace been lifted up. Rather let us 
assure the erring little one that " no temptation 
hath befallen him but such as is common " to 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 155 

all, and hasten to meet the first symptom of con- 
trition for the fault with the promise of for- 
giveness, and of that helping grace for the 
future, which it is his, by covenant mercy, to 
ask and to rely upon. 

XII. 

" As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort 
you." 

" Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear Him ; for He knoweth our frame." 

41 1 will spare him, as a man spareth his own son that 
serveth him." 

Isa. lxvi. 13. Ps. ciii. 13, 14. Mai. iii. 17. 

Having touched upon the point of sympathy 
for our children, as for young and struggling 
Christians, " babes in Christ," we are tempted 
to introduce the following passage from the 
writings of a friend, at the risk of diverging 
from the course of our subject, so well does it 
represent the feelings which must be uppermost 
in the heart of every earnest-minded Christian 
parent : 

" The true Christian sympathy of a parent for 
a child is the closest assimilation to the love of 
our Heavenly Father for His earthly children 
that our far-off world affords. It is this knowing 



156 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

of the frame — this remembering that their chil- 
dren are frail in body and spirit, which makes 
the sympathy of Christian parents so much 
above that of the fondest father, and the most 
idolizing mother, who are destitute of an im- 
mortal interest in their offspring. The first, in 
view of the sinfulness and weakness of their 
children, seek for their spirits the renewing and 
strengthening influences of the Holy Ghost, and 
for their perishing bodies look for a resurrection 
to immortal youth and beauty. Having felt 
their own wants, they feel those of their chil- 
dren; and having found the fulness of God, 
they would in faith take them to the same ex- 
haustless supply, believing that if they seek 
first for them the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness, all other things necessary will be 
added. What is the love of the worldly-minded 
parent compared to this ? 

44 And as a bird each fond endearment tries, 
To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies, 
They try each art, reprove each dull delay, 
Allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way." 



EELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 157 



XIII. 

"Honor to whom honor is due." 

" Thou Bhalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the 
face of the old man, and fear thy God." 

"Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to 
speak evil of dignities." 

Bom. xiii. 7. Lev. xix. 32. II. Pet. ii. 10. 

We are carefully to teach our children that 
the spirit of the fifth commandment requires 
not only a literal obedience to parents, but also 
that we "honor and obey the civil authority, 
submit ourselves to all our governors, teachers, 
spiritual pastors, and masters, and order our- 
selves lowly and reverently to all our betters." 

And these, like most other duties, be it remem- 
bered, are most efficiently inculcated by exam- 
ple. If children are accustomed to hear the 
disrespectful epithet applied to one in authority, 
or the cold or sarcastic criticism passed upon 
the spiritual overseer; or if they witness mani- 
festations of that proud, levelling spirit which 
rebels against existing distinctions in society, 
how shall we imbue them with sentiments of 
reverence and subordination ? 
14 



158 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XIY. 



" Is it well with the child ? " 

M I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be pre- 
served blameless." 

" Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with 
God and man." 

II. Kings, iv. 26. /. Thess. v. 23. Luke, ii, 52. 

Having dwelt upon the importance of disci- 
pline as a most necessary forerunner and assistant 
of all true Christian nurture, we come now to 
consider more directly the education of our chil- 
dren. 

This subject, in accordance with the threefold 
nature of man, must resolve itself into three 
branches, distinct, yet intimately connected, and 
each demanding its due share of careful atten- 
tion. 

To develop the physical constitution of our 
little ones in its due proportions, so that they 
may grow up with sound, able, and healthy 
bodies, what tender and watchful care, what 
wise and enlightened judgment is needed ! 

Again, the development of the mental powers 
is a subject which has called forth volumes of 
thought and theory ; and no wonder, for it is a 
matter deeply affecting the weal of individuals 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 159 

and of the State ; with what interest, therefore, 
should parents address themselves to the work 
of expanding and improving the mind and in- 
tellect of their children to the utmost of the 
ability and opportunity which God has given 
them! 

And yet these — the care and nurture of the 
body — the cultivation of the intellectual powers 
— must shrink into insignificance compared with 
that vast and momentous work, the rearing of 
an immortal soul to the measure of the stature 
of the perfect man in Christ ! Not only is this 
the object of paramount importance, but neither 
of the other branches can be properly carried on 
as befits an immortal being, without regard to 
this " one thing needful " — the training of the 
soul into habits of piety and holiness, into a 
state of meetness for the heavenly inheritance. 

And, on the other hand, a due regard to re- 
ligious principles and practice compels atten- 
tion to the body and to the mental faculties, 
that the child of God may be "ready both in 
body and soul " to serve Him, and may love 
Him " with all the mind and strength," as well 
as with the spiritual nature. 



160 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

We cannot pamper and indulge, neither can 
we neglect and stunt the body, without injury 
to the soul, and it is no less certain that we 
cannot overstrain the intellectual powers, nor 
neglect to use and improve them, without simi- 
lar hurt and hindracce. 

Plainly, therefore, that is miscalled education, 
and is all unworthy of the name, which con- 
cerns the intellect alone, alas ! how often to the 
total neglect of the soul's needs, and most cul- 
pable ignoring of the laws of physical health 
and growth. 

Let it be our aim and endeavor to educate the 
whole being of our children — each faculty with 
which God has endowed them in its proper 
place and proportion ; and to educate these in 
accordance with the laws ordained by Him who 
made them. 

XY. 

" Whom shall he teach knowledge ? and whom shall he 
make to understand doctrine ? Them that are weaned from 
the milk, and drawn from the breasts." 

"That their children, which have not known anything, 
may hear, and learn to fear the Lord." 

"Jesus rejoiced inspirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these thiDgs 



KELIGIOUS TRAINING- OF CHILDREN. 161 

from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
babes." 

Isa. xxviii 9. Deut. xxxi. 13. Luke, x. 21. 

The period at which it is proper to attempt 
imparting direct religious instruction must vary, 
of course, with the capacity of the child. 

Of this we may be sure, that we cannot be- 
gin too early; as soon as the intelligence is so 
far unfolded as to be able to receive any ab- 
stract truth, we may safely attempt the lodg- 
ment of truths Divine. 

Some would object to this, as to a premature 
forcing of the intellect, but the case is by no 
means the same. 

A child receives and acts upon facts concern- 
ing the affairs of this life long before he could 
reason upon them, or comprehend any philo- 
sophical explanation of them ; so also, by Divine 
help, may the simple facts of revealed religion 
be received, yes, and acted upon, by a mere in- 
fant, really influencing its conduct, while yet, 
given in the form of doctrine, the mysteries of 
the faith would indeed be utterly beyond his 
grasp. 

"As mysteries," it has been well observed, 
"they transcend the comprehension of a ser- 
14* 



162 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER, 



aph ; as facts, they are most of them level to the 
capacity of a child, and admirably adapted to 
engage his earliest affiance and love." 

As soon, then, as a little one can speak intelli- 
gently of any absent friend, let him learn of the 
existence of his Almighty, Unseen Friend, As 
soon as he becomes familiar with the surround- 
ings of his earthly home, let him hear of and 
begin to love his bright inheritance above. 
Teach the meaning of the attitude of prayer 
as soon as he observes it at the family altar, 
and teach him his own little prayer as soon a3 
his lisping tongue can frame the words. Thus, 
with God's blessing, may we hope that when 
his expanding mind shall be able to receive 
doctrinal truth, it may fall upon good, that is, 
prepared ground, take root, and bring forth 
abundant fruit in a holy, devoted life. 



XYI. 

" She took him tip with her, . . . and brought him 
unto the house of the Lord . . . and the child was 
young. . . . And he worshipped the Lord there," 

4k The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the 
dwellings of Jacob. " 

"Gather the people . . . assemble the elders, gather 
the children, and those that suck the breasts." 

/. Sam. i. 24, 28. Ps. lxxxvii. 2. Joel, ii. 16. 






RELIGIOUS TRAILING OF CHILDREN. 163 

Every one who assents to the foregoing re- 
marks will acknowledge the importance of ac- 
customing children, as early as possible, to at- 
tendance in the house of the Lord. 

The age at which this is practicable will de- 
pend, far more than the period for beginning 
religious instruction at home, upon the pecu- 
liarities of the child. To compel a restless little 
being to sit during a long service, of the nature 
of which he can have but a faint conception, to 
his own exceeding weariness and disgust and 
to the disturbance of surrounding worshippers, 
cannot be regarded as of any use to the child, 
and can only be justified when the mother, or 
some member of the family, would otherwise be 
detained from the place of worship. 

In such a case it is wise to provide a picture 
book, a pencil and paper, or something of the 
kind, to occupy the attention of the child and 
prevent his forming a dislike for the courts of 
the Lord's house. 

"When, however, a little one is pleased with 
being taken to Church, and, in any case, as 
soon as he is old enough to understand an 
explanation of the holy custom, great pains 



164 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



should be taken to interest him in the public 
worship. 

He should be taught that it is his Heavenly 
Father's house, to which we go to pray and 
hear His Word ; that it is good to be there, and 
that God is pleased to see hirn there, quiet and 
attentive. As he grows older, let the child feel 
that it is his precious privilege to make one of 
the worshipping congregation ; teach him to 
mingle his infant voice with theirs in the Lord's 
Prayer, the Creed, and other simple parts of the 
service ; and as soon as he begins to read, though 
imperfectly, give him a Prayer Book of his own, 
and assist him in finding the places. 

Children may thus, by God's grace, be early 
taught to "love the habitation of His house, 
and the place where His honor dwelleth ;" and it 
is not for us to measure the good which they 
may receive through this appointed means of 
grace. 

How often has it been remarked of some rest- 
less, active child, who was seldom still at home, 
that it was "surprising to see how quietly it 
behaved in church." Who shall tell how much 
the holy influences of the place where God 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 165 

draws near to His people may affect the heart 
of the merest infant ? 

XVII. 

"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the 
towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her 
palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following." 

" And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say 
unto you, What mean ye by this service? " . . . "Then ye 
shall let your children know." 

" Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk 
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." 

Ps. xlviii. 12, 13. Ex. xii. 2G, with Josh. iv. 22. Jer. vi. 16. 

It was well said by a mother, when asked of 
the system she had pursued with a child, lovely 
in his infant piety, " Indeed, it was not I who 
trained him, but the Church." 

The report of the Committee on Christian 
Education appointed by our General Convention, 
thus speaks of the system laid down by the 
Prayer Book : 

" A child being made in baptism l a member 
of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of 
the kingdom of heaven,' is to be trained up as 
such from infancy, in the knowledge and prac- 
tice of his baptismal covenant with God. The 
duty of so training him is laid upon his parents, 
his sponsors, and his pastor, For their help and 



166 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

guidance a catechism is provided, which is not 
only doctrinal but practical ; and the Liturgy, 
the Sacred Year, and all the godly customs ap- 
pointed, as well as the whole tone and spirit of 
his life in the Church, are all homogeneous there- 
with — are all parts of the one great and well- 
tried system under which a child can be virtu- 
ously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian 
life. Every service he joins in and every day he 
keeps, every contact of any kind with the 
Church, which is always faithful to her Lord in 
her order and worship, helps to store his memo- 
ry and his heart with impressions and associa- 
tions and knowledge no less valuable than those 
which he gains when consciously a scholar. 

"Now, this being so, it follows that the true 
Prayer Book ideal of a Christian education in 
these days would be one in which home and 
school and parish, parents, sponsors, pastor, and 
teachers, each in turn, would do their duty to 
the child with constant remembrance of his bap- 
tismal covenant, both as to its privileges and re- 
sponsibilities. It would be a training in which 
the teachings and customs of our household of 
the faith would be allowed to have their due in- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 167 

fluence and their complete harmony. And sure- 
ly, it must commence in the home. "When your 
committee think what the l daily life of a Chris- 
tian child ' may be in a home in which the 
Church and her heavenly ways are appreciated 
and loved by old and young ; in which parents 
and children are all working out their salvation 
side by side ; in which the very days, as they 
come and go, are charged with reminders and 
helps in holy living ; in which the tone is devout, 
humble, loving, believing, as the Church would 
train her members to be, they are sorry to know 
that few of Christ's little ones among us are so 
nurtured — sorry to have to turn aside to account 
for so sad a fact." 

XVIII. 

" Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed 
thy kids beside the shepherd's tents." 

"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit 
yourselves : for they watch for your souls." 

" Know them which labor amoug you, and are over you 
in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very 
highly in love for their work's sake." 

Cant, i. 8. Heh. xiii. 17. /. Thess. v. 12, 13. 

In order to carry out the system of the Church 
in the nurture of children, it is most desirable 



168 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

that they should be kept under the eye of the 
pastor, be taught to recognize themselves as 
members of his nock, and to look up to him 
"with affectionate reverence. 

In this view may be seen the importance of 
placing little ones early in the Sunday school, 
even when the home religious instruction is 
most carefully conducted ; though, indeed, there 
are few parents who will nofc thankfully avail 
themselves of the Christian cooperation of a 
Sunday school teacher in their responsible task. 

As members of the Sunday school, children 
are brought more closely under the notice of the 
pastor than they could be by means of his round 
of pastoral visiting, and they have the benefit of 
his frequent catechising and instructions. 

A reverend English prelate thus remarks on 
this important point : 

" If, at the age when the mind is susceptible 
of the strongest impressions, the young are 
regularly brought into personal intercourse with 
their minister, and accustomed to receive their 
instruction from his lips, they will naturally im- 
bibe a respect for his person and a reverence 
for the sacred character of his office, which will 



KELIGIOTJS TRArNTtfG OF CHILDBED. 169 

prove the strongest of barriers against immoral- 
ity and vice, as well as dissent and infidelity. 
They will regard with deep veneration the 
truths which they have received upon his au- 
thority, and will feel the danger 9 no less of guilt 
than of error, in deserting the appointed guide 
of their youth for intrusive and unknown 
teachers." 

XIX. 

" Come, ye children, hearken unto me : I will teach yon 

the fear of the Lord." 
"Exercised from a child in all points of virtue." 
"That our sons may be as plants grown up in their 

youth ; that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished 

after the similitude of a palace." 

Ps. xxxiv. 11. 2 Mace. xv. 12. Ps. cxliv. 12. 

In dwelling upon this part of our theme, the 
appointments of the Church for the welfare of 
the young, we are called upon to notice further 
the Church Catechism, — "That form of sound 
words, Scripture, or strictly Scriptural, the work 
of men giants in intellect and saints in piety, — 
so concise that a young child may learn it by 
heart, and yet so copious as to contain all things 
necessary to salvation." 

The work of instructing children in the Cate- 
15 



170 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

chism would not be left entirely to the Sunday 
school or the public catechising, it is a matter to 
be faithfully attended to at home. The duty of 
seeing that the child learn all things which a 
Christian ought to know and believe, rest pri- 
marily upon the parents. 

One who has had many years' experience, as 
a parish priest, in 'feeding the lambs,' speaks 
on this subject as follows : 

u As early as possible, a complete elementary 
system of doctrine and practice should be com- 
mitted by the child to memory. Our Church 
furnishes such a system in the Catechism. This 
should be taught each of our children so soon 
as they are able to learn it, and long before they 
can understand it all. Let it be stored up in the 
memory, and as the understanding developes, it 
will receive its meaning. 

"As the powers unfold, and are capable of 
sin, this body of truth will be there to chasten 
and guide them. It will be there with the com- 
mandments, to rebuke and forbid transgression ; 
it will be there with its directions to repent and 
to love and obey God ; there to encourage by 
His promises, and to remind of the solemn vows 
which have been made before God." 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 171 

XX. 

p 
u The entrance of Thy Words giveth light ; it giveth under- 
standing unto the simple." 

"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, 
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." 

"Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life : and they are they which testify of Me." 

Ps. cxix. ISO. II. Tim. iii. 15. John, v. 39. 

It is by no means implied by the preceding 
remarks that the Catechism, Scriptural as it is, 
can take the place of lessons drawn directly 
from the fountain-head, the Word of Truth. 

" Excellent as the Catechism is," says Bishop 
Doane, " and prominent as it should be in every 
plan of instruction, it should always be im- 
pressed on the mind of every child that it is 
nothing, and of no regard, but as it may be 
proved by Scripture. 

"While, therefore, its venerable text should 
be continually repeated, analyzed, enlarged on, 
illustrated, laid to the heart, applied to all the 
life, it should be constantly required that every 
line and word of it be shown to have authority 
in Holy Scripture. 

" Used in this way, the Catechism explains 
the Bible, and the Bible sustains the Catechism. 



172 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



The plan of salvation is developed ; the doc- 
trines of the Cross are explained ; the duties of life 

i 
are enforced ; of the whole counsel of God noth- 
ing is kept back ; of all that appertains to life 
and godliness, nothing is left obscure. The 
young Christian drinks conviction from the first 
fountains of eternal truth, and finds, with lively- 
satisfaction, that every word which has been 
taught him by the Church has precedent and 
sanction in the pure Word of God." 

These excellent observations, of course, must 
apply in their fulness to older children, yet their 
spirit is to be observed with children of all ages. 
Either as u milk for babes," or " strong meat for 
the young men," nothing can take the place of 
the inspired Word. 



XXI. 

"The young children ask bread." 

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by 
taking heed thereto according to Thy Word. 1 ' 

"Order my steps in Thy Word : and let not any iniquity 
have dominion over me." 

Lam. iv. 4. Ps. cxix. 9, 133. 

Our young children, then, no less than our- 
selves, need to be fed daily with the Word of 
God. Let it be our aim and earnest endeavor 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OP CHILDREN. 173 

that they may, day by day, receive a portion of 
this heavenly manna, and that they may learn 
to " esteem it more than their necessary food," 
yea, that it may be " sweeter than honey to their 
taste." We know with what interest a mere 
babe will listen to the touching narratives of the 
Bible, and this should be but a foretaste of the 
increasing pleasure and profit which should re- 
sult from " searching the Scriptures," with every 
added year. 

To accomplish this, to make the study of the 
sacred page an ever new delight, no pains should 
be spared on the part of parents. Bible pic- 
tures, and works of reference illustrating and 
explaining the Scriptures, are very desirable 
helps, and should always be on hand when at- 
tainable ; yet we are not to rely too much upon 
these, but rather upon the help of that Spirit 
Who alone can open our eyes that we may see 
the excellent things of His law. 

Let earnest effort be used to prevent a dull 
and listless reading of the Bible, or the commit- 
ting of its holy precepts to memory as a weari- 
some task. 

A sensible writer remarks : " We cannot dep- 
15* 



174 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

recate too severely the practice of giving por- 
tions of Scripture to be learned as a punishment, 
than which, it would seem, no surer way could 
be contrived of giving a child a distaste for the 
sacred Word." 

Let us seek to accustom our children to a 
reference to the Word of God as the rule of 
their daily life, that it may be indeed " a lamp 
to their feet and a light unto their path." It 
has been well observed that " one of the most 
effective methods of instructing children in any 
duty, is to direct their attention to some inter- 
esting Scriptural example of the performance of 
that duty." Surely, also, we can in no way give 
such force to an admonition, or a requirement, 
as by an appeal to the perfect law of God. 

XXII. 

" Those that seek Me early shall find Me." 

"While he was yet young, he began to seek after the God 
of . . . his father." 

44 Thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father 
... if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee." 

Prov. viii. 17. II Chr. xxxiv. 3. /. Ghr. xxviii. 9. 

In bringing our little ones to the Lord, the 
next step, when they have received the idea of 
His existence, is to teach them to come to Him 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 175 

by prayer — the prayer of faith ; having learned 
to " believe that He is," they must believe that 
" He is the rewarder of all who diligently seek 
Him." 

None but a sceptic would turn from the 
thought of teaching a little child to pray ; often 
and often, indeed, has the weak faith of adults 
been reproved by the trusting, upward look of 
a mere babe, as he lisped his simple, earnest 
petition. 

" Prayer is the simplest form of speech 
That infant lips can try." 

We should be most earnest in our efforts to 
teach children the meaning of the petitions they 
are instructed to offer, that they may pray with 
the understanding," as well as in our interces- 
sions for them, that they may " pray with the 
Spirit." 

Carefully impress upon them a sense of the 
sin of drawing near unto God with their lips, 
while their hearts are far from Him; teach 
them the attitude of reverence, and especially 
let them see by our manner, as we summon them 
to the duty, that it is a solemn thing to address 
the God of Heaven. 



176 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Each Christian child should have, as soon as 
old enough, a manual of private devotion, 
suited to his capacity, and be encouraged in 
its regular use. We need not fear inducing 
formality by this means ; the child, as well as 
the adult, will find it an aid in devotion ; while 
at the same time he may be taught that it 
is right and proper to give utterance to the pe- 
culiar wants and desires of each day in his own 
simple words. 

xxni. 

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove 
your own selves." 

" Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, and 
know my thoughts : and see if there be any wicked way in 
me." 

"If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." 
II. Cor. xiii. 5. Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. I. Cor. xi. 31. 

A habit of self-examination we consider nec- 
essary to the maintenance of a close walk with 
God, in the mature Christian ; as then the 
"babe in Christ" should have each feature of 
the "perfect man in Christ," although as yet 
infantile in proportions, and imperfectly devel- 
oped, it seems a duty to cultivate this habit in 
our little ones. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 177 

We cannot, indeed, set a young child down 
to the task of introspection ; the very idea of 
such a thing is unnatural, and provokes a smile. 

But the mother who accustoms her children, 
as before urged, to pass their daily conduct in 
review, in the light of God's Word ; and who 
leads them to pronounce the judgment of their 
own conscience, thus enlightened, upon their 
childish faults and follies, takes the best means 
to habituate them to call themselves to account, 
and to " know themselves." 

Such a habit, if formed, must prove a power- 
ful check to the thoughtlessness and excitabil- 
ity of childhood and early youth. 

XXIY. 

11 Love the truth." 

" Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the 
old man with his deeds." 

" The lip of truth shall be established forever : but a lying 
tongue is but for a moment." 

Zech. viii. 19. Col. iii. 9. Prov. xii. 19. 

Foremost among the " moral virtues," as they 
are called, must be placed a love of truth. 

Let this be cultivated in our children with 
most watchful and prayerful effort, for it lies at 



178 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

the foundation of a pure, upright, and noble 
character. 

It need hardly be added for our conviction, 
yet we may well be reminded, that to accomplish 
this result we must ourselves set before our little 
ones an example of undeviating truthfulness. 

The slightest carelessness in this regard, on 
our part, will be sure to affect them, by les- 
sening their sense of the heinous guilt and evil 
of falsehood. We should therefore most scrupu- 
lously avoid all exaggeration, misstatement of 
facts, and indiscreet promises or assertions. 

And if, from hastiness or inadvertence, we are 
betrayed into any such inaccuracies, it is plainly 
our duty to correct ourselves; not hesitating, 
from any false notion of dignity, to give our 
little ones so marked a lesson on the value of 
truth and candor. 

By example, as well as by precept, let us seek 
to form our children to habits of strict truth- 
fulness, not in words alone, but in action ; in 
the excitement of play or of aroused feeling, as 
well as in calmer moments. This will require 
much careful attention to childish prattle, much 
patience and watchfulness. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 179 

The parent must listen to the little narrator 
as he gives his account of passing events, and 
guide him to a careful and accurate statement ; 
must lend an ear when the voice is raised in 
excited tones, and gently check any tendency to 
exaggeration or false coloring ; and must be es- 
pecially careful not to put any stumbling-block 
in his way that shall be the means of turning 
him aside from the path of truthfulness. 

We cannot doubt that many children have 
been led into habits of prevarication and conceal- 
ment, if not into downright falsehood, by a 
dread of the severity and undue anger of pa- 
rents or guardians. 

In order to " remove " from our children " the 
way of lying " effectually, by God's grace, we 
must encourage them to confide in us, and to be 
always ready to acknowledge the truth with re- 
gard to any childish error or delinquency. 

They must learn, as they can only learn from 
experience of a wise, gentle, and discriminating 
parental discipline, that " He that covereth his 
sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth 
and forsaketh them shall find mercy." 



180 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER 

XXV. 

4 'Love is tiie mMlling of the law." 
A *By love serve one another." 

"Bejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them 
that weep." 

Bom. xiii. 10. Gal. v. 13. Bom. xii. 15. 

The love which is the fulfilling of the law, the 
charity which is the greatest of Christian virtues, 
as it is a prominent feature of every symmetrical 
Christian character, must largely claim our 
thoughts and efforts as we seek to mould the 
dispositions of our children. 

We speak of natural amiability, of generous 
impulses, too much as if these were not within 
the scope of culture, and the contrary defects 
were matters of regret, but beyond the reach of 
our efforts to subdue. On the contrary, Chris- 
tian charity, in all its phases, is to be constantly 
and carefully inculcated as an important branch 
of Christian nurture. 

The sources of that open-handed benevolence, 
whose streams sometimes gladden and refresh the 
desolate places of the Church and the world, 
might, without doubt, be generally traced to the 
quiet nursery, where, in response to a mother's 
persuading tones, the tempting delicacy was 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 181 

freely shared with a little companion, the treas- 
ured coin yielded to the claims of destitution, or 
the simple prayer offered, with a tear of feeling, 
for the suffering and distressed. 

In the words of another, " Lisping infancy 
should be taught the law of kindness with 
its speech, and offices of sympathy with its tot- 
terring steps. Each unfeeling thought or word 
should be checked almost before it is uttered. 

" There is a proneness to excite the sensibilities 
of children without any practical bearings, just 
for the gratification of admiring their beautiful 
and unsophisticated expressions of feeling. This 
is worse than useless ; the heart should prompt to 
action. 

"■ Children should be taught to joy in others' 
joy, and thus widen their moral pleasure-grounds. 
It is true that God alone can impart the heaven- 
ly principle of love ; but should the blessing not 
come in immediate answer to the prayers of 
Christian parents, still should the child be taught 
to go in the way of duty, and, if it may be so 
expressed, tread with its little footprints a chan- 
nel in which streams of Divine love may yet 
flow." 

16 



182 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XXVI. 

44 This is My commandment, That ye love one another as I 

have loved you." 
"Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous." 
44 Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 

another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 
John, xv. 12. I. Pet. iii. 8. Eph. iv. 32. 

How truly " love, peace, long-suffering, gentle- 
ness, meekness," are " the fruits of the Spirit " 
alone, and do not grow in the natural heart, is 
witnessed in every phase of human life. In the 
nursery and the school, among babes of the same 
family, are seen in miniature the quarrels and 
bickerings which, when fully developed, hinder 
the peace of the Church and the State. 

But none the less, nay, rather, far more earn- 
estly, because these things are natural, will the 
Christian mother watch, and pray, and strive, 
that her little flock may learn to " be all of one 
mind," to " live in peace,*' that " the G od of love 
and peace maybe with "them. 

In this connection we may especially notice 
the Apostle's injunction, Be courteous. We gain 
much toward a genuine kindness of heart, if we 
can train children to exercise the same courtesy 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 183 

in their behavior at home and among themselves 
which is expected of them among strangers. 

For this reason children should be required to 
treat elder brothers and sisters, and other mem- 
bers of the family, with a proper degree of defer- 
ence, and they should never be allowed in any 
rudeness toward servants and dependents. 

A more difficult point is to "see that none 
render evil for evil, or railing for railing," to 
teach them to " forgive as they would be for- 
given." 

Oh, let us labor to impress upon our little ones 
that in these things " Satan desireth to have 
them," that herein lies their temptation, here is 
the warfare they are to wage as enlisted soldiers 
of the Prince of Peace ! 

Happy the mother who can perceive the 
growth of her children in that wisdom which is 
" peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full 
of mercy and good fruits ! " 

XXVII. 

" "Without preferring one "before another ; doing nothing 
by partiality." 
" His brethren envied him." 



184 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and 
every evil work." 

I. Tim. v. 21. Gen. xxxvii. 11. James, iii. 16. 

" His brethren envied him." Often have the 
sad consequences of this state of feeling in the 
family of the patriarch been held up as a warn- 
ing to the young against the indulgence of en- 
vious and unkind feelings ; but may not par- 
ents also learn an important lesson from the 
connected story ? 

It is plain that the fact that Israel loved 
Joseph above all his children was evident to the 
less favored sons, and was the moving cause of 
their envious and malicious conduct. 

Parents should know no difference in their re- 
gard for the children whom God has made equal 
claimants upon their love and care ; and if, from 
any peculiar circumstances, they are conscious 
of a stronger degree of affection for any one 
child, they should be most cautious and solici- 
tous not to betray this partiality in any way. 

It is indeed our duty to study the character 
and temperament of each child, and to adapt 
our mode of management and discipline to the 
peculiarities of each. But while the treatment 
of the children of a family may thus necessarily 



EELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 185 

be varied in many respects, it should be appar- 
ent to all that the same love, and regard for 
their best interests, prompts each differing 
course. 

The sight which has sometimes been beheld, 
of one beautiful, or otherwise gifted, child 
revelling in the love and caresses for which 
another neglected little one pines and yearns in 
vain, is one to fill the heart with pity and indig- 
nation, and surely cannot be witnessed where 
the parents have any claim to Christian princi- 
ple and feeling. But some may unawares be 
guilty of the same error in a less degree, and we 
cannot be too scrupulous to avoid making any 
distinction, by our words or conduct, which may 
occasion any sensitive unhappiness, any degree 
of envy or jealousy, among our little flock. 

XXVIII. 

" If by any means I may provoke to emulation." 
" Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory ; but in 
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than them- 
selves." 

"Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one 
another." 

Bom. xi. 14. Phil, ii. 3. Gal. v. 26. 

The question naturally arises here, whether it 
16* 



186 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

is right and wise to make u?e of the principle of 
emulation in the training of the young. 

Many parents and teachers take the ground 
that it is unsafe to propose it as a motive to 
action, for that it naturally leads to " envy and 
strife," and thus opens the door to " confusion 
and every evil work." 

Such will refrain from offering prizes or re- 
wards of a nature inviting competition. 

Yet we know that, especially in a large school, 
this incentive often proves a valuable and effi- 
cient aid in arousing the indolent and careless, 
and encouraging the diligent. 

Doubtless, if employed at all, it should be 
with observant care, as in the handling of an 
edged tool. 

It is well and advisable to provoke to a right 
kind of emulation — a desire to attain to the 
standpoint of the best and foremost ; but unless 
it can be done without leading to vainglory, or 
invidious comparisons, it were better to do with- 
out its aid. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 187 

XXIX. 

" Charity seeketh not her own." 

" Look not every man on his own things, hut every man 
also on the things of others." 
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

I. Cor. ariii. 5. Phil. ii. 4. Matt. xxii. 39. 

The same holy charity which " suifereth long 
and is kind," which " envieth not," it is also said 
" seeketh not her own." 

This unselfish spirit, that it may be developed 
in the influential man or woman, as* has been be- 
fore urged, must be fostered in the child ; and 
yet, how often we witness a very contrary course 
in the training of children. 

The petted and darling child cannot but see 
that he is the central object of the attentions of 
the household, that his wishes are paramount, 
that he is not expected to sacrifice any item of 
his convenience or pleasure for the comfort of 
others. How can he be otherwise than selfish ? 

Can it be expected that children thus accus- 
tomed from infancy to " seek their own," will 
easily learn to " seek the things which are Jesus 
Christ's ? " Is this the training for a follower of 
the self-denying Son of God ? 






188 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

If our children are to be good for anything in 
life, even in a worldly point of view, much more, 
if we desire them to " endure hardness as good 
soldiers of Christ," we must early accustom 
them to practise self-denial. 

" It is good for a man that he bear the yoke 
in his youth " — the yoke of Christ's self-denying 
service. And in saying this, we do not plead for 
the abridgment of childhood's natural joys and 
privileges, or for presenting a gloomy view of 
religion to the young. 

The happiest children are they who learn 

to give up their own will and pleasure for the 

good of others, and for the service of their God 

and Saviour. 

XXX. 

" Blessed are the pure in heart." 
" Unto the pure all things are pure." 
4 ' Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? .... He 
that hath clean hands and a pure heart." 

Matt. v. 8. Tit. i. 15. Ps. xxiv. 3, 4. 

It may be thought that the subject of moral 
purity is one which hardly concerns the train- 
ing of young children ; and, indeed, few moth- 
ers are aware of the perils which may surround 
their children in this respect. Many seem to 
suppose that if, as they advance toward maturi- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 189 

ty, they can be preserved from evil influence, 
nothing more can be needful. But sad experi- 
ence has shown that in regard to this, as well as 
other features of the moral being, the moulding 
should be early begun. 

And it need scarcely be added that this 
moulding requires the most delicate and careful 
touches. Attempts have sometimes been made 
to guard children from danger by disclosing to 
them the revolting details of vice ; but this is a 
most injudicious and dangerous experiment. 
The safest course is to cultivate by a silent in- 
fluence, habits of modesty and purity, and to 
teach in the plainest manner that all impure 
thoughts, words, and actions are in a high de- 
gree displeasing to a pure and holy God. 

Of all safeguards to the youthful mind, next 
to the recollection of the All-Seeing Eye, there 
is none so effectual as the habit of confiding in 
parents. Let us seek to render our children un- 
willing to receive any communications, from 
companions or from books, or to entertain any 
thought, which they would blush to have re- 
vealed to a parent's eye. 



190 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

XXXI. 

14 This we commanded you, that if any would not work, 
neither should he eat." 

" In all labor there is profit." 

" Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work." 

II. Thess. iii. 10. Prov. xiv. 23. Ex. xx. 9. 

We should endeavor early to imbue our 
children with the feeling that they have a work 
to do in the world, " a little spot of the vine- 
yard to occupy " ; and we should strive to form 
in them habits of industry, and a love of useful 
employment. 

Whether the parents be wealthy or otherwise, 
to bring up children in idleness and helpless de- 
pendence is an inexcusable error. No one can 
be above that injunction of the Catechism: a to 
learn and labor truly to get mine own living, 
and to do my duty in that state of life to which 
it has pleased God to call me " ; the child of 
affluence, as well as the child of poverty, should 
be taught the earnest meaning of these words, 
and that the lesson may be impressed upon 
them, each should be required to put it in 
practice. 

" Let little ones be accustomed," says a sensi- 



RELIGIOUS TRAILING OF CHILDREN. 191 

ble author, " at as early an age as possible, to 
steady and serious work, of a kind and in a 
measure suited to their powers; let them be 
taught the necessity and advantages of applica- 
tion, and thus led into habits of self-reliance and 
self-command." 

There is a prevalent theory in these days that 
all effort required of children should be made 
as amusing and as little distasteful as possible ; 
that they are to be beguiled with the idea that 
work is play. To this may be ascribed the 
many diluted, milk-and-water text-books for 
children, and short roads to learning. We have 
no faith in this system, and do not hesitate to 
lay to its charge much of the indolence, the dis- 
like to active exertion, physical or mental, which 
we witness among our young people. Far bet- 
ter to teach the child to brace himself up to 
effort to work while he works. 

By these remarks we would by no means be 
understood to justify the burdening of children 
with tasks beyond their years and strength. By 
far the larger portion of time, during infancy 
and early childhood, we would have children 
free as the young lambs, to sport at will ; yet as 



192 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER 

rational creatures, born to serve their Creator, 
let them become accustomed to do and accom- 
plish something each day as their duty, their 
allotted task, whereby they may please the Mas- 
ter ; and let them be encouraged in patient in- 
dustry and effort by the thought that they are 
thus " serving the Lord." 

XXXII. 

" I have fed you with milk, and not with meat : for hither- 
to ye were not able to bear it.' 1 

" The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vinee 
with the tender grape give a good smell." 

" The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit. ,, 

/. Cor. iii. 2. Cant. ii. 13. Luke i. 80. 

There is a species of exertion to which very 
young children are often urged and encouraged, 
which, far from being commended as beneficial, 
cannot be too strongly deprecated ; we refer to 
intellectual effort. 

Many parents are strangely inconsistent here. 
The very persons who would shrink from im- 
posing tasks of any other nature upon their 
delicately-nurtured little ones, will be found 
stimulating them to an amount of mental labor 
far beyond their years and strength, and much 



BELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 193 

more injurious than even the same degree of 
physical effort could have been. 

It is, indeed, very amusing and interesting to 
observe the precocious development of intellect 
which will sometimes result from such a course ; 
and, no doubt, it is often gratifying to parental 
vanity to hear expressions of astonishment from 
friends and acquaintance at the quickness of 
apprehension or powers of memory displayed by 
some mere babe, perhaps of three to five years of 
age ; but this pleasure is in general very dearly 
purchased. The development of the whole na- 
ture, in its due proportions, as we have before 
remarked, is the true meaning and significance 
of education; and this should be the aim of every 
parent. But it is impossible to secure the whole- 
some and entire growth of a child, where there 
is an undue expansion of any one set of facul- 
ties. 

Few parents would be willing to hazard the 
serious injury of a child for their own personal 
gratification ; and if any are pursuing the course 
just described, with the expectation of benefit- 
ing the little one by thus prematurely drawing 
out its mental powers, let them be assured the 

17 



194 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

idea is a mistaken one. Let them remember 
that the young mind is in a young body, and 
not "forget wisdom in teaching knowledge." 

Habits of application, of patient and indus- 
trious effort, such as will be of real use in a fu- 
ture course of mental discipline and culture, can 
be much more safely induced by such a method 
as we have urged under the last heading. We 
believe this will prove a far better preparation 
of the young mind for implanting the seeds of a 
thorough education than the exhaustion of the 
soil by an unnaturally early crop of infant 
knowledge. 

xxxin. 

"There is a time to laugh.'" 

" The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls play- 
ing in the streets thereof." 

"Rejoice, O youDg man, in thy youth ; and let thy heart 
cheer thee in the days of thy youth ; ... but know thou, 
that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." 
Eccl. iii. 4. Zech. viii. 5. Eccl. xi. 9. 

As before remarked, a large portion ot time 
during early childhood must properly and neces- 
sarily be given to active sports and other diver- 
sions. 

The above texts recognize this fact; while 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 195 

the concluding warning in the one last quoted 
may serve to remind us that during these hours 
of play the formative process — the moulding of 
character — must be going on, and therefore, that 
over these the watchful parental oversight 
should be extended ; not, by any means, to check 
or restrain childish gayety, but to guard against 
unwholesome influences, to win confidence by 
sympathy with the enjoyments of the child, and 
to prompt to such amusements as are safe, inno- 
cent, and improving. 

A common form of diversion, with the gener- 
ality of children, is self-employment in such oc- 
cupations as are most congenial to the natural 
bent of the mind. The tastes and gifts of a 
child may often be best discerned by watching 
him in his hours of pastime, noticing what 
amusements he spontaneously chooses. 

By observing and pondering upon these indi- 
cations, parents may be greatly aided in giving 
a right direction to the efforts of their children 
as they advance toward maturity, drawing out 
and encouraging native talent, which, under the 
hands of unobservant and unreflecting parents, 
might have been repressed and discouraged. 



196 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

The selection of toys for children is a matter 
in which a great want of judgment is often dis- 
played. A profusion of frail and finical baubles 
will sometimes be lavished upon a little one, 
which amuse by their novelty for a brief hour, 
and are then thrown aside or wantonly de- 
stroyed. A few playthings judiciously selected 
will afford children more genuine pleasure, and 
may be made conducive to their real improve- 
ment. 

XXXIV. 

" Serving divers lusts and pleasures." 

" Spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to 
hear some new thing. 

" Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them. I 
withheld not my heart from any joy." 

Titus, iii. 3. Acts, xvii. 21. Eccl. ii. 10. 

A question nearly connected with our last 
theme, which may well claim a thought in pass- 
ing, is, how far the training of childhood may 
be at fault in fostering an undue love of excite- 
ment and novelty. 

No doubt this passion is inherent in our nature, 
and therefore, within proper limits and restraint, 
it must be innocent and subservient to our wel- 
fare. But evidently, in the case of many per- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 197 

sons, it is excessive, and is the cause of most per- 
nicious results. 

On considering this matter we shall find that 
the management of children is often erroneous in 
this regard, and that this error may, in many- 
cases, be traced to the nursery. A judicious 
writer upon the care of young children re- 
marks : 

" It is necessary to give infants proper bodily 
exercise, because they have not strength them- 
selves to take it ; but they can amuse themselves, 
with very little help, at an early age, and always 
do so when in health, unless prevented by the 
officiousness of those around them. 

" I consider this a point of importance, not 
only because self-diversion constitutes the only 
kind of mental exertion they are capable of 
using, but also because, whilst the organs of sen- 
sation are so delicate, continual efforts made 
to arouse and stimulate infants are more frequent- 
ly productive of pernicious consequences to the 
intellect, temper, and health of the child, than is 
suspected. 

11 An infant is taught to look for violent agita- 
tions, to be pleased with them, and to feel their 
17* 



198 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

absence. Is not this a love of dissipation inter- 
woven with the earliest habits ? In the next 
stage of childhood abundance of toys and a 
succession of playfellows become necessary to his 
amusement, and it is well if, in after years, his 
powers of mind do not become more and more 
dependent on the impulse of sensible objects, 
and averse to those of an abstract and intellectu- 
al nature.'' 

XXXV. 

"He hath made everything beautiful in his time." 

"The works of the Lord arc great, sought out of all them 

that have pleasure therein."" 

" O Lord, how manifold are Thy works ! in wisdom hast 

Thou made them all : the earth is full of Thy riches.' 1 

Eccl. iii. 11. Ps. cxi.^2. Ps. civ. 24. 

Of all sources of amusement, the purest, most 
lasting, and satisfying are those furnished by our 
Creator in the beautiful things of nature. 

There is no danger in the joyous, wholesome 
excitement which springs from observing the 
wonderful works of God. 

The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done 
His marvellous works, that they ought to be had 
in remembrance. Then let us teach our children 
to admire and love the blossoms of the field, the 






RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 199 

music of the birds, the countless beauties spread 
on every hand. Let them make friends with 
birds, insects, and other creatures of God, and 
learn their habits and trace their wonderful in- 
stincts. If possible, let them have a spot of 
ground to cultivate as their own. No one would 
grudge this appropriation who has ever witnessed 
the rapture with which each springing blade and 
opening bud is hailed by the young gardener. 

The advantages of a home in the country are 
obvious in this connection ; but parents living 
in the city will do well to expend both money 
and effort to procure for their little ones frequent- 
ly a taste of such simple, natural delights. 

In this view may be seen the importance of 
giving prominent place to the natural sciences in 
a Christian education, endeavoring so to impart 
a knowledge of them that it may be indeed 
a u handmaid of religion," leading the youthful 
student more fervently to adore Him who " hath 
done all things well." 

XXXVI. 

"When my children were about me." 

" Even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." 

" As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her 



200 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

yonng, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, fceareth 
them on her wings. 11 

Job, xxix. 5. Matt, xxiii. 37. Deut. xxxii. 11. 

The thoughts thus far suggested in pursuance 
of our momentous subject, and the passages of 
Scripture which have been adduced, must have 
strengthened the conviction in every candid 
mind that the safest place lor a child is under 
the parent's eje. 

Parents are directly responsible in their own 
persons for the nurture of the children commit- 
ted to them. They may, indeed, avail them- 
selves of the assistance of suitable helpers in 
their arduous work, but they cannot delegate 
the responsibility, nor throw off the solemn 
charge which rests primarily and principally 
upon them. 

With regard to the earlier years of childhood, 
an able writer has beautifully observed : 

" The highest and godliest nurture is that 
which keeps the children still beside the parents 
during the earlier years of life, in the fresh, 
formative time when there are beginnings of 
things that will never end. When the little 
birds are in the nest, the parent birds are seldom 
far or long away. The human instinct prompt- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 201 

ing to love and care and nourishment ought to 
be as strong. It usually is so for a while, but, in 
many cases, only for a while. Many thing3 arise 
to interrupt the continuity and impair the energy 
of parental presence, and influence by that pres- 
ence. 

u It is God's way that the children, while 
young, should be about the parents. That was 
the way in the olden time : happily it has been 
the way down all through time. It has ripened 
the richest fruits of goodness in human charac- 
ter. It has made the noblest men and women. 

" Still will it be found, in all but exceptional 
cases, that home, be it tent of the desert or house 
of the city, and daily presence of father and 
mother, be they of high or low degree, are more 
for the child than any other person or things that 
can be substituted. They are great days for 
after meaning and far-off power and influence — 
the days ' when our children are about us.' " 

XXXVII. 

" With whom hast thou left those few sheep ? " 
"The hireling . . . care th not for the sheep." 
" Hast thou children ? Instruct them. 11 

7". Sam. xvii. 28. John, x. 13. Ecclus. vii. 23. 

Let us, therefore, as parents, resolve to keep 



202 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

our children as much as possible in our own 
presence, — under our own watchful eyes. Let us 
uever be content to banish them to a lonely 
nursery, to consign them to the hands of an ig- 
norant and, it may be, a heartless and unprinci- 
pled assistant, or to suffer them to wander forth, 
seeking and finding such companions as they 
may. 

It is true their childish ways, their endless 
questionings, their demands upon our attention, 
are fatiguing, and interfere often with cherished 
plans and pursuits; but what claims upon our 
time and strength and patience, are so sacred 
as theirs ? 

Let it be our care and business to know where 
they are, and what they are doing. There is, 
indeed, a species of nervous maternal solicitude 
which is often held up to ridicule, and the wish 
is sometimes uttered that its little victims might 
enjoy " a little wholesome letting alone." 

But while it is true that care and thought for 
our children may betray itself in a wrong, and 
even foolish manner, — while it is true, also, that 
we are in danger of forgetting, with regard to 
our little ones no less than to ourselves, the 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDRExV. 203 

peaceful trust with which we are warranted in 
confiding our all to a Father's hands, let us not 
fail to remember that the watchful oversight of 
our children is our solemn duty. 

XXXVIII. 

u Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet 
have ye not many fathers.' 1 

" My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake 
not the law of thy mother." 

** I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the 
sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto 

me Wisdom is the principal thing ; therefore get 

wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." 

I. Cor. iv. 15. Prov. i. 8. Prov. iv. 3, 4, 7. 

It is often the case that parents who are most 
devoted to the care of their children during in- 
fancy, seem to feel themselves relieved, in great 
measure, from responsibility, when they arrive 
at an age to be sent to school. 

But surely this is a great mistake. None, so 
well as intelligent and watchful parents, can 
superintend the education of their children, for 
uone else can so well understand the tempera- 
ment and peculiarities of each, upon the study 
of which successful training must so largely 
depend. 

With regard to the education of daughters, 



204 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

many are ready to concede that, if possible, it 
should be conducted at home, or as nearly as 
may be, under the eye of a watchful mother. 

To pass over other considerations, there are 
branches of female education, most necessary to 
future happiness and usefulness, which must be 
in great measure neglected, under the usual sys- 
tem of schools. 

But many who would seek earnestly to retain 
their daughters beneath the paternal roof, seem 
to judge differently with regard to sons ; and 
boys are often removed, at far too early an age, 
from the influences of home and from the over- 
sight of their natural guardians. 

But who can have so much interest in the 
education of children as their parents ? Surely 
we should not be in haste to commit to the 
hands, perhaps, of entire strangers, the sacred 
work for which we are responsible to society 
and to God. 

" Let those," says a reverend writer, " who 
have a true Christian home, with the means of 
literary and religious instruction therein, not be 
banished from it so long as it is possible to re- 
tain them in it. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 205 

" Even through the collegiate and professional 
course, if it be possible, let the young have their 
nightly and Sunday rest at home, to find there, 
at the family altar, strength against the tempta- 
tions which wreck so many in their educational 
career. 

" Let the distance from the old hive to the new 
be as short as possible, lest there be loss and 
ruin in the swarming." 

XXXIX. 

41 Their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod." 
" Their spot is not the spot of His children." 
M Where shall wisdom be found ? And where is the place 
of understanding ? . . . God understandeth the way 
thereof ; ... and unto man He said, Behold, the fear 
of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is un- 
derstanding." 

Neh. xiii. 24. Deut. xxxii. 5. Job, xxviii. 12, 23-28. 

However we may appreciate the advantages 
of a home education, it must still be the case 
that but comparatively few families can com- 
mand the entire instruction of their children 
under their own roof; and indeed it must be 
admitted that when children are past the ten- 
derer years of infancy, a well-ordered school 
possesses some advantages which cannot be as 
18 



206 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

well secured by any other system. It becomes, 
then, a point of the utmost importance to know 
well the character of the schools to which our 
children are consigned ; this cannot and ought 
not to be a matter of indifference to parents, 
even when the children are absent from their 
care but a few hours of the day ; how much 
more need of prayerful caution is there when it 
is deemed expedient and necessary to send them 
away from home. 

In either case, it is the bounden duty of par- 
ents to see to it, that although removed from 
close parental oversight, they be not exposed to 
unnecessary temptations ; and especially they 
should provide that they be not sent out of the 
fold — that they be not taken from under the 
sheltering wing of the Church. 

Yet, alas ! what culpable carelessness is often 
witnessed in this respect. How often are chil- 
dren recklessly intrusted, for the sake of mere 
intellectual advantage, or worldly accomplish- 
ments, to the hands of those whose influence is 
either wholly irreligious, or tending, strongly 
though insidiously, to pervert their minds from 
the truths of their most holy faith. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 207 

To quote again from the Keport of the Com- 
mittee on Christian Education : 

" It is most clearly and imperatively the duty 
of parents and guardians, to their children and 
wards, as well as to the Church, when they send 
the sons and daughters of the Church away from 
their homes, to send them to her own schools 
and colleges ; not to those where her worship 
and teaching are unknown, and least of all to 
those in which Eomanism so stealthily but sure- 
ly perverts the faith of so many of the children 
of unreflecting or faithless parents." 

With regard to day-schools, a parish clergy- 
man has well remarked : 

" We believe there is scarcely a parish where 
it would not be found practicable to have a 
parish school — a school for the daily instruc- 
tion of children in all needful studies in 
connection with the Church and its services, 
and under the watchful influences of the pastor. 

" It is not practicable for the clergy to sus- 
tain such schools unaided ; but with the hearty 
cooperation of the laymen, it can be done. It 
is no new scheme, but proved for generations in 
the English Church, and its excellence confessed 



208 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

by all ; but not carried out among ourselves 
more fully, because we are not awake to the re- 
sponsibility of keeping the next generation for 
Christ." 

XL. 

"Give attendance to reading." 

4k The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fas- 
tened by the masters of assemblies. . . And further, by 
these, my son, be admonished." 

" Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doc- 
trine." 

7". Tim, iv. 13. Ecd. xii. 11, 12. I. Tim. iv. 6. 

If the choice of companions, and of instruc- 
tors for the young, be a matter of deep concern, 
how, it may well be asked, shall any regard with 
indifference those silent companions and educa- 
tors which have access to the minds and hearts 
of our children in their most quiet and thought- 
ful hours ? 

Parents are too apt to be careless in this re- 
spect; to congratulate themselves that their 
children are well occupied, and out of harm's 
way, when they are seen with a book in hand, 
without troubling themselves to inquire the 
character of the influence which may thus be 
powerfully working upon the pliant and un- 
guarded mind. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 209 

Surely this is a point where the utmost vigil- 
ance should be exercised by a conscientious 
parent or guardian. For, as has been truly ob- 
served, "One of the most prolific sources of 
mischief and peril to the young is undoubtedly 
the quantity of godless and immoral books with 
which the land is flooded. Here is an avenue 
by which Satan too often gains free, because 
subtle and silent, access to the youthful mind; 
implanting therein the seeds of evil, too surely 
to spring up as tares among the good seed of 
holy truth." 

Even in works from which the taint of gross 
vice and immorality is excluded, it is often the 
case that a semi-infidel tone — an utter ignoring 
of Christian truth — renders them most unfit and 
unprofitable reading for our children. 

It is plainly our duty, not only to be vigilant 
in guarding our youthful charge from the cor- 
rupting influences of an unsanctified literature, 
but to endeavor to provide for them wholesome 
and instructive, as well as attractive, books and 
periodicals, as a most needful part of family 
Christian culture. 

In these days of cheap reading, we may de- 
18* 



210 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

pend upon it, the young mind will feed upon 
something : if suitable reading be not supplied, 
from proper sources, the enemy will see that the 
void be filled. 

Let us be thankful that the same prodigal 
press which throws temptation so freely around 
on every hand, enables also every one who cares 
duly for these things to provide, in good meas- 
ure, wholesome, intellectual food for his family. 
Good books and papers are, almost without ex- 
ception, within reach of all. 

XLI. 

"And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one 
that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instru- 
ment : for they hear thy words, but they do them not." 

" The time will come when they will not endure sound 
doctrine ; . . . and they shall turn away their ears from 
the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 

" Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines : 
for our vines have tender grapes." 

EzeTc. xxxiii. 32. iT". Tim. iv. 3, 4. Cant. ii. 15. 

These texts may suggest to us a caution, with 
regard to works of fiction, which form so large 
a part of the reading provided for little ones, as 
well as for all ages, in these days. 

We are far from objecting to a proper use of 
these. Our Saviour spoke to the ignorant and 



EELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 211 

unlearned in parables ; and all experience proves 
that in no way can we more effectually arrest 
the attention of a child, for good, than by some 
simple story, conveying a moral or religious 
lesson. 

We regard well- selected story-books as excel- 
lent helps in providing for the innocent amuse- 
ment and occupation of the young. At the 
same time, there is danger lest our children 
learn to read merely for diversion and the ex- 
citement of the story, and thus acquire a dis- 
taste for anything which demands patient 
attention, or serious thought ; above all, lest the 
study of the Sacred Word thus become irksome 
and unpalatable. Too much of this luxurious 
reading, as we may term it, like any other lux- 
ury, must prove enervating and injurious. 

This matter, therefore, demands our care ; to 
check the tendency to '" skip " those portions of 
a book which speak forth " the words of truth 
and soberness," and to teach the youthful read- 
er to seek for more than the amusement of a 
passing hour in the books which so delight 
him. 






212 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

XLIL 

" Thy children like olive plants round about thy table." 
41 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall dis- 
til as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and 
as the showers upon the grass." 

" Tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what 
things I have wrought." 

Ps. cxxviii. 3. Deut. xxxii. 2. Ex. x. 2. 

There is one mode of education which, from 
being in the olden time the chief and most 
prominent of means used, has become of late 
quite too much neglected. In former days the 
young gained their information, in great meas- 
ure, sitting at the feet of their elders, drinking 
in wisdom from the experience of age. 

Then, children gathering with their older 
friends around the social board, or the winter - 
evening fireside, were wont to find them at 
leisure to respond to their inquiries, and thus 
impart pleasing instruction. But in these busy, 
stirring times, parents and seniors are apt to be 
so preoccupied in mind, so absorbed in their 
many active plans, as to have little time or pa- 
tience for this method of improving their young 
companions. Too frequently is it the case that 
the hours of family reunion, few enough at the 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 213 

best, are spent by the elders in the taciturn 
perusal of the daily news, or perhaps in dis- 
coursing of business among themselves, while 
the children are kept in constrained silence. 

Says a wise writer : " Children will learn with 
pleasure from the lips of parents, what they 
deem it drudgery to study in books ; and even 
if they have the misfortune to be deprived of 
educational advantages which they desire, they 
cannot fail to grow up intelligent if they enjoy 
in childhood, and youth the privilege of listen- 
ing daily to the conversation of intelligent peo- 
ple. Let parents, then, talk much and talk well 
at home. One who is habitually silent in his 
own house may be in many respects a wise man, 
but he is not wise in his silence." 

Even those parents, fathers especially, who 
are necessarily separated from their families 
during much of the day are usually with them 
at meals, and let such reflect how many hours of 
the year are thus spent, — what an amount of 
precious opportunity for the cultivation of " the 
olive plants about our table " ! As Dr. Guthrie 
well observes : " In the Christian household 
there is not a place nor a time which witnesses 



214 . THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

more unconscious progress made in their Father's 
business, than the family table and the daily 
meal ; in the un-christian household, or the mere- 
ly nominal Christian table, there is no place or 
time where that work is more thwarted and 
hindered." 

XLIII. 

" In meekness instructing. " 
" The heart of the righteous studieth to answer." 
"Be ready always to give an answer with meekness. 1 ' 
II. Tim. ii. 25. Prov. xv. 28. I. Pet. iii. 15. 

The "endless questionings" of children are 
proverbial, and, while often amusing to their 
seniors, it will sometimes be the case that these 
reachings-out of the young mind, after things 
unknown and unexplored, will be wearying, and 
tempt an impatient word or frown. " Do not," 
says one, "thus roughly crush the springing 
spirit of inquiry, nor attempt, on the other 
hand, a long and instructive reply to every 
casual question. Seek, rather, to deepen their 
curiosity. Convert, if possible, the careless 
question into a profound and earnest inquiry." 

The writer of an article in the Christian Ob- 
server thus alludes to a common fault with 
parents and teachers : " When a question is 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 215 

asked which they cannot answer, they will pro- 
fess to be busy, to turn the subject to avoid 
saying, 4 1 do not know.' If such parents and 
instructors would deal truthfully and transpar- 
ently with those on whose minds their own are 
leaving an hourly impression, the acknowledg- 
ment of ignorance would be the means of win- 
ning for themselves respect and confidence, 
while it conveyed to their children a lesson alike 
of humility and encouragement. 

" Still more," he continues, " will this princi- 
ple apply, if we pass from ignorance to infirm- 
ity. We mistake if we think that superiority 
of age, station, or intellect, forms a screen thick 
enough to conceal from the keen eyes of 
children our peculiar weaknesses and faults. It 
should be apparent that we feel within ourselves, 
lament, and struggle with, that same corruption 
of heart, the branchings out of which we are 
called upon to prune in others. 

" When we have done wrong, there is a manner 
of acknowledging it without loss of authority, 
which will gain from our children and others 
the fullest confidence in a justice so even-handed, 
that it is administered at our own expense." 



216 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XLIY. 

u Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity 
with God? 

" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the 
world. 

" The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: hut he 
that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 

Jam. iv. 4. I. John^ ii. 15, 17. 

" Ye are a peculiar people." " Come out from 
among them and be ye separate." If we attach 
any meaning to such passages as these, if any 
to the baptismal vow, surely it must be conceded 
that a household which is truly devoted to the 
Lord, by this vow, must be peculiar, different in 
many respects from the families of the world 
around ; — " It must do and leave undone, possess 
and give away, seek and renounce, enjoy and 
deny itself, according to this rule." 

And, as in other things, so, also, will such a 
household differ from the world in the nurture 
of its children. They must be withheld from 
some things which the world approves as ex- 
pedient or harmless, they must be trained in 
some practices which the world derides ; other- 
wise may never be fulfilled in them " the will of 
God, even their sanctification." 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 217 

It is often difficult, at the present day, to 
" discern between him that serveth God, and him 
that serveth Him not" in this matter of compli- 
ance with the world and its customs. 

We charitably hope that, at the family altar 
and in the closet of the parents, these little ones 
are day by day consecrated to God, and that the 
secret influences of their home may be on the 
Lord's side ; but should there not be some mark 
of distinction visible to the outward world ? 

And can a child be indulged in an early taste 
of the follies and gayeties most prized in world- 
ly society, without acquiring that " love of the 
world " against which we are so earnestly 
warned ? * 

There must be a dividing line somewhere. 
Let us, then, consider seriously and candidly 
whether such and such a course in the training 
of our children will not tend directly to bring 
them into contact with a gay and godless world 
and expose them to its perils. And if, in regard 
to any point, our conscience tells us that such 
will probably be the result, let us faithfully 
withdraw them from such influences. 

In so doing we may be derided as puritanical, 
19 



218 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

and behind the age ; but is it not better to be 
on the safe side ? And need those who have the 
Lord for their portion seek after any doubtful 
pleasures and indulgences of the world which 
passeth away? 

XLY. 

" Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be 
able to withstand in the evil day." 

" He assayed to go ; for he had not proved it. And David 
said unto Saul, I cannot go with these ; for I have not proved 
them.' 1 

11 1 pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the 
world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." 
Eph. vi. 13. 7". Sam. xvii. 39. John, xvii. 15. 

While endeavoring to rear our children in such 
a manner as to expose them as little as possible 
to the allurements of the world, we are to 
remember, on the other hand, that the tempta- 
tions of this evil world will surely be brought to 
bear upon them as they advance toward matur- 
ity; yes, and it may be that the parents who 
would watch and warn them may then be far 
away or silent in the grave. 

How shall we prepare them to stand firm in 
the evil day ? 

Not by shutting them off from all sight and 
sound of evil, by striving to keep them in igno- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 219 

ranee of the ways of the world upon which they 
may so soon be thrown, but by diligently arming 
them at all points against its machinations with 
the whole armor of God. 

This subject will come home to the heart of 
every parent whose children are verging upon 
the period of responsibility, or are preparing 
even now to go out into the world. 

Our children may appear well, their conduct 
may have given us much encouragement while 
under the restraints of a religious household, 
and controlled by our authority, but how will 
they act, as they must soon do, for themselves ? 

Let us anticipate this period by training our 
children from the first to a sense of their per- 
sonal accountability to God. We cannot fail to 
notice the excellent tendency of our Church 
catechism in this regard. A child who has been 
well trained in its words and spirit, cannot but 
feel himself individually a member of Christ's 
holy Church, and personally bound by all the 
commandments of God. 

And, even in matters not necessarily involv- 
ing religious principle, let us seek to form our 
children to a habit of self- direction; that they 



220 THE CHKISTIAN MOTHEB. 

may know to refuse the evil, and choose the 
good. 

It is well, sometimes, to withdraw the props, 
and leave the child where he must act upon his 
own responsibility, in some matter which will 
put his judgment or firmness to the test. 

Then by kindly pointing out in what respects 
he may have failed to act wisely, a most valua- 
ble lesson will be given. 

XLYI. 

" Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 

peace." 
" Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." 
"The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles 

of the righteous." 

JProv. iii. 17. Ps. cxlix. 2. Ps. cxviii. 15. 

In the midst of the deep and intense anxi- 
eties with which, from the standpoint of ex- 
perience and responsibility, we regard our chil- 
dren, there may be danger lest the shadows of 
our grave cares fall too darkly upon their young 
life ; lest we fail to present the bright side of 
our holy religion to their observation. 

If we would win our children to walk with 
us in the way to Zion, we should let them see 
that we can " be glad and rejoice in the Lord," 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 221 

yea also, that we can be " merry and joyful." 
While we seek to accustom them to Christ's 
yoke, let us endeavor that they may feel that 
" His yoke is easy, and His burden light." 

" It seems to me," says one, " a great secret of 
religious domestic government, to make both 
children and servants feel that, though they 
might be more wicked in other households, they 
could not be more happy." 

Through the years of earlier childhood, the 
evil effects of a morose, unsocial, ungenial home 
atmosphere, may not be so apparent ; the light- 
headedness of infancy, unless checked by actual 
harshness, will assert itself, and find its own 
simple joys ; and, moreover, young children can 
be, with comparative ease, restrained within 
the limits of the home, however gloomy. 

But as the child advances into the period of 
youth, with its vague ambitions, its eager and 
restless longings, how important it is that home 
should be " the dearest spot on earth " to him — 
that it should be invested with a charm which 
shall overbalance all attractions of a doubtful 
tendency abroad. 

Let us seek, then, to invest the home circle 
19* 



222 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

with all the attractions which we can command ; 
and especially with that which is within the 
means of the poorest parents — a genial sym- 
pathy with the joyousness of youth. 

In this connection we see the advantage of 
what are generally termed " accomplishments." 

Let a taste for the fine arts be cultivated in 
children, not in order that they may attract the 
admiration of strangers, or shine in society, but 
that they may add to the innocent enjoyments 
of their home. 

We plead especially for music — one of the 
purest sources of pleasure which this world 
affords. Few families are so situated as to be 
debarred from this advantage and delight, for 
most can command the opportunity, with a 
little pains, of cultivating the voice and ear, so 
as to enable children to join in the praises of 
God in His sanctuary, and to gladden their 
homes with sweet melody. 

In view of retaining our influence over our 
children as they grow up, mothers may see the 
mistake of allowing themselves to grow rusty in 
intellect, and of burying the talents and accom- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 223 

plishments of their youth beneath an accumula- 
tion of cares, as is too often done. 

As has been well remarked, " They forget that 
though they are mothers of infants now, they 
will be mothers of men and women by and by." 

We do not mean to imply that the mother 
who has been prevented from keeping pace with 
the intellectual development of her children, 
thereby loses her claim to their reverence and 
obedience. That claim, as the child should 
have learned with the earliest lessons of his in- 
fancy, is founded upon the law and will of God ; 
and this authority with which God has invested 
her, when combined with true piety, will al- 
ways command the affectionate respect of her 
children. 

But the wise mother will gladly avail herself 
of any helps within her reach, to strengthen her 
influence with her sons and daughters at the 
most critical period of their life. 

XLVII. 

"First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in 
the ear." 

" When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a 
child, I thought as a child." 

"Till we all come .... unto a perfect man, unto the 



224 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ : that we 
henceforth be no more children.'" 

Mark y iv. 28. L Cor. xiii. 11. Eph. iv. 13-14. 

" We often do greatly err in looking for signs 
of grace in a young child which can be expected 
only in the mature Christian. We might as well 
expect the wisdom and vigor of man hood in the 
babe, and cast it out of human relationships 
and hope because they were wanting. The rule 
seems to be that, as natural endowments in the 
child or youth are to those of the man, so will 
gracious gifts and attainments at the same age 
be to those of the mature Christian. 

" It is reasonable and Scriptural to expect that 
growth and development in the natural and 
spiritual should be analogous from infancy to 
old age. 

" Yet many think to find in the young child 
the perfect man in Christ Jesus, and judge that 
there has been no saving work of grace in the 
soul if they are disappointed. 

"Parents are often the severest judges of the 
piety of their children. They see all their petty 
offences, their frolic and levity, and are not, per- 
haps, although they should be, the confidants of 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 225 

their more serious moments, and so judge harsh- 
ly. How does their own conduct stand the 
scrutiny of young eyes always fixed upon them, 
and quick to see ? Is not the religion of the 
parent full of inconsistencies, and are those of 
childhood more censurable ? Let us judge char- 
itably of the child Christian, separating that 
which is wilfully sinful from that which is natu- 
ral and pardonable, and not reckoning as sin 
what is no more sin than sportiveness in the lamb. 
Even St. Paul has uttered a caution where it 
would seem to be least needed, when he says, 
i Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be 
discouraged.' " 

XLVIII. 

" Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, My Father, 
thou art the guide of my youth ? " 

" My son, give me thine heart." 

"Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the 
midst of them. 1 ' 

Jer. iii. 4. Prov. xxiii. 26. Matt, xviii. 2. 

" With regard to the early confession of Christ 
in confirmation and at the Lord's table, where a 
desire for these privileges is manifested by chil- 
dren, and habits of prayer and conscientiousness 
are believed to ex^st, it is taking much upon us 



226 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

to discourage them, and it may be like the 
breaking of the fruit-buds — a preventing of 
fruit for that season, at least, if not forever. 

" We are not necessarily to expect any marked 
religious change in children religiously dedica- 
ted to God in baptism, and virtuously brought 
up to lead a godly and a Christian life. There 
will be, indeed, with such, seasons of deepened in- 
interest, and clearer and more spiritual experien- 
ces will be revealed to the soul from time to time 
under the teachings of the Spirit, so that the 
truths well known in theory shall work down into 
the heart and be realized experimentally, just as 
school knowledge becomes practical and clear in 
the advance to manhood; yet the process will 
not be by sudden changes, but in this, like his 
Divine Lord, the Christian child will increase in 
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and 
man. 

" A new creation of the soul by the Holy 
Spirit all need, whether of religious or ungodly 
households, for all are by nature dead in sin, and 
the children of wrath ; but in the Christian child 
the work is as in the grain sown, while in the 
conversion of the ungodly it is like the engraft- 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 227 

ing of the good tree on a wild stock, more easily 
traced in its operations and beginnings. The 
jailor at Philippi, and John the Baptist and 
Timothy are examples of the two cases — the one 
brought to God fey a marked change, the others 
sanctified from the birth, and knowing from 
childhood the saving power of God's Word. 

" When charity can find any indications of a 
hopeful nature there should be encouragement 
given to an early confession of Christ. 

" Let not the young be hindered from those 
ordinances of strengthening and refreshing to 
which they are clearly privileged to come, and 
which they early need to enable them to fight the 
good fight of faith in the warfare of life." 

XLIX. 

" Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work 
be pure, and whether it be right." 
" Samnel ministered before the Lord, being a child." 
" Son, go work to-day in my vineyard," 

Prov. xx. 11. I. Bam. ii. 18. Matt. xxi. 28. 

Let us seek to habituate our children early to 
laboring for Christ. Let them feel that a place 
is given them in the household of faith, in the 
ranks of God's elect, not merely that their own 



228 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

souls shall be saved, but that they may be faith- 
ful and active " soldiers and servants." 

And let them know that the Master whom 
they are sworn to serve has work in His vineyard 
for each and all ; yes, and thafr He smiles upon 
and blesses the feeblest, humblest efforts in His 
cause. 

Most important is it that a Christian family 
should be well informed concerning the great 
fields of Christian effort. 

"Where the missionary spirit pervades a house- 
hold, where the parents and older members are 
intelligently and actively interested in ail mat- 
ters pertaining to the kingdom of God, it can 
hardly fail that the children will be imbued with 
the same spirit and recognize their vocation as 
Christian laborers. 



" I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, 
and who will go for ns ? " 

" He said, O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of 
him whom Thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was 
kindled against Moses." 

" He that is obedient unto the Lord shall be a comfort unto 
his mother." 

Isa. vi. 8. Ex. iv. 13-14. Ecclus. iii. 6. 

It is, we fear, too often the case that the idea 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 229 

of dedication of children entertained by parents 
is vague and unreal, dealing with generalities 
rather than with the special sacrifices to which 
they may be called in their own family circle. 

Hence it is that parental unwillingness is 
sometimes a check upon the ardor of youthful 
devotion when it would engage in works which 
might demand sacrifices of time, strength, or 
worldly advantage. 

And do we not find here one great reason why 
there are so few to " come up to the help of the 
Lord " by filling up the ranks of the sacred min- 
istry ? 

In these days, when the Church has such im- 
perative need of more clergy, when the fields are 
confessedly u white unto the harvest," when we 
are urged to " pray unto the Lord that He will 
send more laborers into His harvest," how is it 
that the sons of the Church seem to be given to 
every other business and profession more readily 
than to this ? 

Oh, if Christian parents, looking around upon 

the band of little ones lent them by the Lord, 

had at heart the solemn question, " Lord, what 

wilt Thou have these to do ? " would not many 

20 



230 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

a bright, intelligent child be early set apart and 
consecrated to this glorious work by the desires 
and prayers of his parents ? 

Of one thing we may be solemnly assured, — 
that when the conviction is brought home to our 
minds of a child's peculiar fitness or providential 
call to this or any other sphere of religious 
duty, we shall gain nothing to ourselves, even in 
earthly comfort, by withholding or dissuading 
him therefrom. 

" He that is obedient to the Lord," and he only, 
shall be a comfort to his mother. And the more 
truly and entirely the lives of our children are 
devoted to the Lord, the more will they be our 
earthly solace and delight — the deeper, purer 
joy may we anticipate when gathered with them 
into the rest of the people of God. 



SECTION VI. 



Seasons of Peril and. Trial. 



Qtasoxis of Jtertl emir StriaL 



"From darkness here, and dreariness, 
We ask not full repose ; 
Only be Thou at hand, to bless 
Our trial-hour of woes." 



IN ANTICIPATION. 



"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
trouble. Therefore will not we fear." 

" Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for 
my soul trusteth in Thee : yea, in the shadow of Thy wings 
will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." 

" What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." 

Ps. xlvi. 1, 2. Ps. Mi. 1. Ps. lvi. 3. 

A manual for mothers could scarcely be 
deemed complete which should contain no 
special allusion to those periods of peculiar anx- 
iety, trial, and suffering which are implied in 
the very idea of maternity. 

We touch first upon the period of expectation, 
as having needs of its own, no less than the act- 
ual hour of trial. The dread of approaching 
evil, often increased by present physical weak- 
ness or mental depression, combined with a 
20* 



234 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

consciousness of the importance of an even, 
quiet, cheerfulness of mind, render this a time 
when we have especial cause to lay hold upon 
the promises. 

Let us thank God that the Bible is full of 
such promises. Especially is this true of the 
precious Book of Psalms, with regard to which 
an old divine thus challenges : " Let there be 
any grief or disease incident to the soul of man, 
any wound or sickness named, for which there is 
not, in this treasure-house, a present, comforta- 
ble remedy at all times ready to be found." 

We can scarcely open upon a page of the 
Psalter without meeting some cheering word of 
encouragement which seems to have been in- 
scribed there for our individual and present 
need ; and to the anxious and depressed in 
spirit we would say, have the Psalter frequently 
open before you, and its holy words of prayer, 
faith, and hope much upon your lips and in 
your heart, as the surest means of preserving a 
calm and trustful frame. 

II. 

11 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble ; 
and He knoweth them that trust in Him." 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 235 

" Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, 
all ye that hope in the Lord.' 1 
" The people that do know their God shall he strong,' ' 
Nahum, i. 7. Ps. xxxi. 24. Dan. xi. 32. 

To a young Christian friend — a daughter in 
the faith — the Kev. H. Venn thus writes : 

". . . . I enjoy the privilege of presenting you 
before our most merciful and gracious God as 
one of His elect, as the purchase of His own 
blood, and as a member of His body, of His 
flesh, and of His bones. I think of the ap- 
proaching hour of your weakness, and feel for 
you. But I am comforted in the covenant en- 
gagements of your Saviour, whose power is in- 
finite, and the tenderness of His love equal to 
that power. He will inspire you with meekness 
and fortitude. 

" True friendship ever proves itself in the hour 
of adversity by rising in its warmth and by 
exerting every nerve in proportion as its aid 
is wanted. With the beloved and the friend of 
the daughters of Jerusalem, this is ever the case. 
Experience, from the beginning, has confirmed it. 
The Church of Christ has always had reason to 
say, and triumphed in the assurance, ' I am per- 
suaded that neither death nor life, .... nor 



236 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

things present, nor things to come, etc., shall be 
able to separate us from the love of God, which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 

11 c Be therefore of good cheer,' saith the Lord. 
'Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid 
when promises, and oaths, and love Divine, and 
angels, and the Holy Trinity, are all engaged 
and all united for thy help, and for thy salva- 
tion — all engaged to preserve thee, and to make 
thee an everlasting monument of grace ? ' 

" Oh, my dear friend ! how solid, how all- 
sufficient, how certain the support and con- 
solation, in every time of difficulty and distress, 
as soon and in the measure our Lord sees good 
for the soul ! " 

III. 

"He hath done all things well." 

" Blessed is she that believed : for there shall be a perform- 
ance of those things which were told her from the Lord." 

" The woman being deceived was in the transgression. 
Notwithstanding she shall be saved ... if they con- 
tinue in faith and charity and holiness." 

Mark, vii. 87. Luke, i. 45. I. Tim. ii. 14, 15. 

The peculiar trials incident to the estate of a 
true wife and mother may sometimes try the 
faith, even of an humble and sincere believer, 
and tempt such an one to exclaim, Can it be that 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 237 

these things are ordained in love, by a merciful 
Father, who " knoweth our frame " ? 

The semi-infidel spirit of the world returns a 
negative to this suggestion of the enemy ; nay, 
it proceeds further in these days, and openly 
sneers at the appointed lot and duty of woman, 
as set forth in the Word of God. Many even of 
our own sex, alas ! are found advocating, with- 
out disguise, the avoidance of the weakness and 
suffering attendant upon the maternal function, 
in order that woman may the better maintain 
what these reformers are pleased to consider her 
true position in society. 

It is a delicate and painful task to allude to 
these increasingly- prevalent opinions, and to 
the criminality which they encourage ; but when 
the consequences are so patent as to cause the 
note of alarm to be sounded, not only by the 
watchman upon Zion's walls, but also by the 
patriot, is it not time that Christian matrons 
should set their face against these ungodly and 
demoralizing sentiments ? 

Let us beware of the insidious arguments 
which would pervert the conscience or render 
us dissatisfied with the Scriptural view of the 



238 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

sphere and duty of woman, as illustrated by the 
examples of holy matrons of old, and as recog- 
nized by the Church, in her teaching and ordi- 
nances. 

The gay worldling may glance with pity and 
contempt at a life regulated by such principles, 
but what is that to one whom angels and the 
Lord of angels approve ? 

And when we are tempted to murmuring and 
bitterness of spirit in view of the burdens or 
trials allotted to us — when we cry, with one of 
old, " Why am I thus ? " — let us, with her, hum- 
bly "inquire of the Lord," and we shall find 
submissive peace restored by the assurance, 
" What I do thou knowest not now, but thou 
shalt know hereafter." " Only believe." 

The woes of the curse pronounced upon our 
race at the fail are seen, 

" By the light of Christian lore," 

to be turned into blessings, through the tender 
mercy of our God, in Christ. This is assuredly 
true of woman's peculiar portion, no less than 
of the penalty of labor, and of death itself. 
And it shall be proved, to our eternal joy, when, 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 239 

after meekly doing and suffering all that is ap- 
pointed us, we enter at last, through much trib- 
ulation, the kingdom of God. 

IY. 

"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy 
mercy, O Lord, endureth forever : forsake not the works of 
Thine own hands." 

" The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; the name of 
the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the 
sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. . . . Grant 
thee thij heart's desire, and fulfil all thy mind."— Prayer 
Boole Version. 

" Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou 
disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God : for I shall yet 
praise Him for the help of His countenance." 

Ps. exxxviii. 8. Ps. xx. 1, 2, 4. Ps. xlii. 5. 

Compare with these passages Psalm exxxix., 
and thou shalt be led to feel that the interests so 
dear to thee— the " yet imperfect " life so mys- 
teriously linked with thine — are as truly the 
care of thy Heavenly Father as thine own. [See 
also Isaiah, xliv. 2, and xlvi. 4.] Trust Him, that 
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. 
" He also will hear their cry, and will help them." 

" Be still, my heart, these anxious cares 
To thee are burdens, thorns, and snares ; 
They cast dishonor on thy Lord, 
And contradict His gracious word. 



240 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"When first before His mercy-seat, 
Thou didst to Him thy all commit, 
He gave thee warrant from that hour, 
To trust His wisdom, love, and power. 

" Did ever trouble thee befall, 

And He refuse to hear thy call ? 
And has He not His promise passed, 
That thou shalt overcome at last ? " 



"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain 
thee." 

" He giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no 
might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint 
and be weary, .... but they that wait upon the Lord shall 
renew their strength." 

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall 
strengthen thine heart wait, I say, on the Lord." 

Ps. lv. 22. Isa. xl. 29-31. Ps. xxvii. 14. 

In such times of need and weakness, it seems 
more forcibly true than ever that 

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath." 

How could we bear the weight of dread and 
care which sometimes oppresses the spirit, if 
we could not " commit our way unto the Lord " 
in humble confidence and hope ? Let us say, 
with the Psalmist, " I will cry unto God most 
high ; unto God that perf ormeth all things for 
me." 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 241 

" O Holy Saviour ! Friend unseen, 
Since on Thy arm Thou bid'st us lean, 
Help us throughout life's changing scene, 
By faith to cling to Thee. 
" Though faith and hope are often tried, 
We ask not, need not, aught beside, 
So safe, so calm, so satisfied, 
The souls that cling to Thee. 
" They fear not Satan nor the grave, 
They know Thee near, and strong to save. 
With Thee all danger they can brave, 
Because they cling to Thee. 
41 Blest is our lot, whate'er befall, 
What can affright, or who appall, 
Since, as our strength, our Rock, our all, 
Jesus, we cling to Thee ? " 

" PASSING THROUGH THE WATERS." 

VI. 

u Save me, O God ; for the waters are come in unto my 
soul. . . . Hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am 
in trouble : hear me speedily." 

"Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. 
Lord, hear my voice. ... I wait for the Lord, my soul 
doth wait, and in His word do I hope." 

" I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence Com- 
eth my help." 

Ps. lxix. 1, It. Ps. cxxx. 1, 2, 5. Ps. cxxi. 1. 

" Dear Refuge of my weary soul, 
On Thee, when sorrows rise, 
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll, 
My fainting hope relies." 

21 



242 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

VII. 

"When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are 
come upon thee .... if thou turn to the Lord thy God, . . . 
He will not forsake thee." 

"Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from 
me." 

" Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dismayed ; for 
I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; 
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteous- 
ness." 

Deut. iv. 30, 31. Ps. xxxviii. 21. Isa. xli. 10. 

" Full of trembling expectation, 

Feeling much, yet fearing more, 
Mighty Lord of my salvation, 

I Thy timely aid implore ! 
By Thy suffering, O be near me, 

All my sufferings to sustain ; 
By Thy sorer griefs to cheer me, 

By Thy more than mortal pain." 

VIII. 

" Their strength is to sit still. ... In quietness and in 
confidence shall be your strength." 

" The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the 
everlasting arms." 

"Be still, and know that I am God." 

Isa. xxx. 7, 15. Deut. xxxiii. 27. Ps. xlvi. 10. 

" O Lord my God ! Do Thou Thy holy will, 
I will lie still ; 

I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm, 
And break the charm 

Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast, 
In perfect rest 1 " 



SEASONS OF PEKIL AND TRIAL. 243 



IX. 

" Bo not Thou far from me, O Lord : O my strength, 

haste Thee to help me." 
" Attend unto my cry ; for I am brought very low." 
" Hear me speedily, O Lord : my spirit faileth : hide not 

Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down 

into the pit." 

Ps. xxii. 19. Ps. cxlii. 6. Ps. cxliii. 7. 

" Let this cup pass, my Father ! I am sinking 
In the deep waters which surround my soul ; 
And bitter grows the draught which I am drinking, 
And higher rise the waves that round me roll. 

" Forsake me not in this my need extremest; 

Let not Thy strengthening hand elude my grasp ! 
I know Thy love, even when Thou harshest seemest— 
Father most merciful ! let this cup pass 1 " 



X. 

" Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." 
" Into Thine hand I commit my spirit : Thou hast re- 
deemed me, O Lord God of truth. . . . My times are in Thy 

hand." 

Job, xiii. 15. Ps. xxxi. 5, 15. 

" Pain's furnace heat within me quivers, 
God's breath upon the flame doth blow ; 
And all my heart in anguish shivers, 

And trembles at the fiery glow. 
And yet I whisper, As God will 1 
And in His mighty hand hold still." 



244 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XI. 

"My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of 

death are fallen upon me." 
" The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." 
" Tea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 

death, I will fear no evil : for Thou art with me ; Thy rod 

and Thy staff they comfort me." 

Ps. lv. 4. Job, iii. 25. Ps. xxiii. 4. 

" Jesus, my God, to Thee I fly ! 
Thou art my refuge ever nigh. 
When heart shall fail, when life is past, 
Thou wilt receive my soul at last." 



XII. 

" O spare me, that I may recover strength. " 

" Mine eyes fail with looking upward : O Lord, I am 
oppressed; undertake for me. ... So wilt Thou recover 
me, and make me to live." 

" I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness 
of the Lord in the land of the living." 

Ps. xxxix. 13. Isa. xxxviii. 14, 16. Ps. xxvii. 13. 

If there be ever a case in which it seems right 
to pray that life may be spared, surely the case 
of the faithful mother at this crisis is such. In 
the hour of extremest peril, though death seem 
very near, still may we ask this mercy of our 
God, " in whose hand our breath is." Yet strive 
to say, " Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou 
wilt." 



SEASONS OF PEKIL AND TRIAL. 245 

RETROSPECTION. 

xin. 

11 The bitterness of death is past." 

" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning.' ' 

"Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of 
my supplications. ... My heart trusted in Him, and I am 
helped." 

I. Sam. xv. 32. Ps. xxx. 5. Ps. xxviii. 6, 7. 

" When trouble, like a gloomy cloud, 
Has gathered thick, and thundered loud, 
He near my soul has always stood ; 
His loving kindness, how good." 

XIY. 

"O what great troubles and adversities hast Thou 
showed me ! and yet didst thou turn and refresh me ; yea, 
and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again. . . . 
Therefore will I praise Thee, and Thy faithfulness, O God ! " 

"In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and 
strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." 

"I will praise Thee forever, because Thou hast done it: 
and I will wait on Thy name ; for it is good before Thy 
saints." 

Ps. lxxi. 18, 20 {Prayer Book version). Ps. cxxxviii. 3. 
Ps. lii. 9. 

" Sing, my soul, adore His name ; 
Let His glory be thy theme ; 
Praise Him, till He call thee home ; 
Trust His love for all to come." 

21* 



246 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XV. 

" Open to me the gates of righteousness : I will go into 
them, and I will praise the Lord." 

"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath 
dealt bountifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my 
soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from fall- 
ing. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 11 
Ps. cxviii. 19. Ps. cxvi. 7-9. 

It surely must be a first impulse of every 
right-minded person, on recovering from sick- 
ness or danger, to " praise the Lord in the midst 
of the congregation of His saints " ; to " enter 
into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His 
courts with praise." For the woman delivered 
from her great peril our mother Church of 
England provides a special thanksgiving. This 
service is retained in our own Prayer Book, and 
it is much to be regretted that it has fallen into 
disuse among us, probably through the influence 
of peculiarities of feeling and custom in our 
country, — must we not say from the false ideas 
of delicacy which pervade our society ? 

But, though it may be doubted whether it 
were wise to combat this state of feeling at pres- 
ent, the service should be a reminder, to every 
true-hearted Christian mother, of the duty of 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 247 

solemn and earnest thanksgiving for the pecu- 
liar mercy vouchsafed unto her. 

As early as possible let her go up to the courts 
of the Lord, — in spirit at least, realizing the 
sacred poet's description : 

u A spouse, with all a daughter's heart, 
Fresh from the perilous birth, 
To the Great Father lifts her pale, glad eye, 
As a reviving flower when storms are hushed on 
high." 

XVI. 

" I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and 
will call upon the name of the Lord." 

" Come near and "bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into 
the house of the Lord. 1 ' 

" An offering of a free heart will I give Thee, and praise 
Thy name, O Lord ; because it is so comfortable. For He 
hath delivered me out of all my trouble." 

Ps. cxvi. 17. II. Chron. xxix. 31. Ps. liv. 6, 7 {Prayer 
Boole version). 

The rubric at the close of the thanksgiving 
service alluded to enjoins that special thank- 
offerings be made by the person returning 
thanks. In this, as indeed in the whole office, 
the example of the Jewish Church is followed, 
and of that blessed mother who gladly offered 
from her poverty the gift which the law of the 
Lord required. 



248 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

Surely such an expression of thankfulness will 
commend itself to every one as most seemly. 
The gratitude of a devout heart will naturally 
seek vent, not in words alone, but in deeds of 
love and devotion. 

The object for these offerings is one which 
must be considered especially appropriate, when 
such cases exist in the neighborhood. But " the 
poor always we have with us," and suitable 
objcts for our charity are ever to be found. 

XVII. 

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits 
toward me ? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon 
the name of the Lord." 

** I will go unto the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding 
joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee O God my God ! " 

" I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, 
and He heard me. ... I will sacrifice unto Thee with the 
voice of thanksgiving ; I will pay that that I have vowed. 
Salvation is of the Lord." 

Ps. cxvi. 12, 13. Ps. xliii. 4. Jonah, ii. 2, 9. 

The Church further admonishes her faithful 
daughter, at this time of gladness and thanks- 
giving, that " If there be a Communion, it is con- 
venient that she receive the Holy Communion." 

Most " meet, right, and her bounden duty " is 
it, indeed, to embrace the first opportunity of re- 
membering the Lord's mercies at His holy table. 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 249 

As one well remarks, in comment upon this 
service, " Thus may she offer herself, in soul and 
body, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacri- 
fice unto God. This is the most solemn and ac- 
ceptable way of praising Him for His mercies ; 
and it is a means of surrendering to His service 
the life which He has so graciously spared. 

" It is remarkable on how many occasions the 
Holy Communion comes in as the great means 
of dedicating ourselves to the Lord, and of seek- 
ing from Him that grace which we so much re- 
quire, to enable us to live in His holy fear and 
love. Our Church expects us to receive it after 
our confirmation, as a sign of our membership ; 
when a mother returns thanks, and also in the 
days of sickness, to cheer us in our gloom, and 

to strengthen us in our weakness It is 

an ordinance that we should ever be ready to 
receive, for the nourishing and comforting of 
our souls. It is never out of place, in the days 
of health or of sickness, in the time of joy, or in 
the hour of sadness." 

"Within Thy courts, lor Thy love's sake, 
I'll call upon Thy name ; 
The sacramental cup I'll take, 
And thus Thy grace proclaim. 



250 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

"Now I am Thine, forever Thine, 
Nor shall my purpose move ; 
Thy hand hath loosed my bonds of pain, 
And bound me with Thy love." 

XVIII. 

" When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; 
. . . pay that which thou hast vowed." 

" I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, 
and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble." 

" Offer unto God thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows unto the 
Most High : and call upon Me in the day of trouble : I will 
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." 

Ecd. v. 4. Ps. lxvi. 13, 14. Ps. 1. 14, 15. 

In the seclusion and quiet of the sick cham- 
ber, and especially in times of peril, when we 
feel ourselves to be very near the grave, with 
what a different aspect do the plans and occu- 
pations of life pass in review before us ! 

Who has not been led, at such times, to look 
back with wonder and regret at many things in 
the past, and forward to the future with earnest 
resolutions of amendment, and with new and 
holy purposes of heart ? 

Yet how often, when restored to health and 
to the active duties of life, do these views and 
feelings pass away as the early dew ; or, if re- 
called by memory, they are dismissed from the 



SEASONS OF PERIL AND TRIAL. 251 

thoughts as fancies of the sick bed, attributable 
to weakness, and as unworthy of the hours of 
vigor, and incompatible with the realties of 
life. 

Alas ! in many cases we must fear that it is 
the " still small voice " of conscience and of God 
which thus appeals to us in the quiet hours 
when we are withdrawn from the turmoil of the 
world, and which is silenced by the busy din of 
" earth's many voices," as we mingle again amid 
its stirring multitudes ! 

Let us be faithful with ourselves in this mat- 
ter, and see to it that we be not negligent in 
striving to fulfil that which our souls have prom- 
ised unto the Lord our God, when we were 
brought very near into His presence; or, be 
we well assured that the Lord will " require of 
us" these secret vows in the day of account; 
yea, it must be greatly to our spiritual loss and 
hindrance, if we do not earnestly seek to keep 
and perform them. 

" What shall I render to my God 
For all His kindness shown ? 
My feet shall visit Thine abode, 
My songs address Thy throne. 



252 



THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



11 Among the saints who fill Thy house 
My offerings shall be paid ; 
There shall my zeal perform the vows 
My soul in anguish made." 



SECTION VII. 



Bereavement. 



3txtavtttwxt 



" If thou shouldst call me to resign 
What most I prize ; it ne'er was mine ; 
I only yield Thee what is Thine : 
Thy will he done 1 " 



DEATH OF CHILDREN. 

I. 

" Where is he ? " 

"Rahel weeping for her children refused to be com- 
forted, . . . because they were not." 
11 If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." 

Job, xiv. 10. Jer. xxxi. 15. Gen. xliii. 14. 

The death of young children is often spoken 
of as a trial more abounding in consolations 
than any we are called to meet in our pilgrimage 
through this vale of tears. 

This we believe ; and yet there is none which 
carries with it a keener and more desolate sense 
of bereavement, especially to the mother. 

The time and thoughts of a true mother are 
so absorbed in the care of the precious ones 
committed to her — these are so much a part of 
her life — that when one is taken from her cher- 



256 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ishing arms, a void seems left which never can 
be filled. 

The busy day that was all too short for 
maternal duties, how slowly pass its hours to 
the mother when 

"Her little hindering thing is gone." 

She handles the little garments, the work of 
busy, happy hours, and weeps for the precious 
form which she may enrobe no more. She 
listens involuntarily for the patter of the tiny 
feet upon the floor — for the echo of the merry, 
caroling laugh — and shudders to think how 
they are stilled. She starts from her slumber at 
the imagined sound of 

" That voice, which, though sleeping 
A mother will hear ; " 

but the sight of the empty crib or cot awakes 
her to the consciousness that her darling needs 
her care no longer. 

And then comes the wild longing — who that 
has lost a friend has not felt it ? — to know more 
of that strange mysterious state into which the 
loved one has passed. 

"Where is he?" The bright, loving spirit 



BEREAVEMENT. 257 

which so lately animated the infant form, whose 
fondling caress we still feel, whose winsome 
tones are ringing in our ears ; where is it ? Does 
it not miss the sheltering mother arms which so 
yearn for it ? "Where in the vast regions of the 
spirit-land wanders the treasured one so cher- 
ished here ? 

But heaven-born faith hushes the yearning 
cry, and schools the aching heart to calm, sub- 
missive trust. Oh, how can partings such as 
these be borne, without the aid of the Christian's 
faith ? 

II. 

44 1 say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always be- 
hold the face of My Father which is in heaven." 

44 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? " 

44 Carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." 

Matt, xviii. 10. Heb. i. 14. Luke, xvi. 22. 

The pleasing, comforting doctrine of guar- 
dian angels, by no means to be regarded as a 
Jewish fable, comes in with peculiar solace 
here. 

Think of your little departed one as entering 

upon its new, mysterious state, not alone, but in 

the loving guardianship of that bright Spirit 

who, from it 4 first moment of conscious exist- 

22* 



258 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ence, was commissioned by its Father in heaven 
to watch and protect it. 

"The reapers are the angels." This we know. 
And the cherished blossom of love which they 
have been commissioned to bear away from your 
home is but transplanted to the paradise where 
it shall bloom and expand, fed upon joys, and 
nurtured by love such as earth cannot know. 

III. 

"Behold, all souls are mine ; as the soul of the father, so 
also the soul of the son is mine." 

"Not one of them is forgotten before God. 1 ' 
"The God in whose hand thy breath is." 

Ezek. xviii. 4. Lulce, xii. 6. Dan. v. 23. 

The anguish of bereavement is often deepened 
by harrowing reflections upon some attendant 
circumstances : " Had these been ordered differ- 
ently," it is thought, " the life of the beloved 
one might have been prolonged." 

Most frequently does this occur in the case of 
little ones, — too young to give expression to 
their suffering, or to describe their symptoms. 

The tortured heart recalls indications — then, 
perhaps, little heeded, now so plain ! —the mute 
glance, appealing for lelief; the baby-utterances 



BEREAVEMENT. 259 

of complaint, but half understood ; and moans, 
" Oh, if we could but have known ! " 

Let the mourner, anguished by such vain re- 
grets, be calmed by the reflection that not a soul 
parts from the body but at the command of the 
Almighty. 

The life which is His gift, He alone can 
recall. 

"It is an unspeakable comfort to feel and 
know that neither we nor ours shall die without 
the decision and appointment of our Heavenly 
Father. Whatever the cause, or the means, the 
remedies used or left unu?ed, when the breath 
leaves the body, it was God's appointed time for 
it to leave, and no created wisdom or power 
could hasten or stay it one moment. 

" Life is too precious a thing, with too much 
dependent upon it, to be left, in its beginning 
or close, to any but Almighty power and wis- 
dom. 

" We read that ' the Lord struck the child ' of 
David ; and we are told ' there is an appointed 
time for man upon the earth.' 

" Up to the moment of decision it is ours to 
use the means of healing, and to fast and pray ; 



2 GO THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

but when God has taken the decision into His 
own hands, we have only meekly to say, l The 
will of the Lord be done ! ' " 

IV. 

" Jesus called a little child unto nim." 
" The Lord hath need of them." 

" These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
goeth." 

Matt, xviii. 2. Matt. xxi. 3. Ben. xiv. 4. 

" Infants glorify Him by their deaths." As 
they are created and redeemed, so, doubtless, 
are they thus early removed from earth, to glorify 
their Lord. 

" Yea," saith the Lord, " have ye never read, 
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou 
hast perfected praise ? " 

In these, the multitude of infant spirits, " re- 
deemed from among men, without fault before 
the throne of God," He sees of the travail of His 
soul. 

"He would have infant trebles ringing 

The glories of the great I Am ; 
He would have childish voices singing 

The hallelujahs of the Lamb. 
And shall we faint in griefs desire 

Because this grace to us is given, 
To have a babe amidst the choir 

White-robed around the throne of Heaven ?" 



BEREAVEMENT. 261 



" He shall gather the lambs with His arm." 
" Go thy way ; thy sou liveth." 
"All live unto Him." 

Isa. xl. 11. John, iv. 50. Luke, xx. 38. 

" A babe in glory is a babe forever, 
Perfect as spirits, and able to pour forth 
Their glad heart in the tongues which angels use, 
These nurslings gathered in God's nursery 
Forever grow in loveliness and love, .... 
Yet cannot pass the limit that defines 

Their being 

Innumerable flowers thus bloom and blush 
In Heaven. Nor reckon God's designs in them 
Frustrate, or shorn of full accomplishment. 
The lily is as perfect as the oak, 
The myrtle is as fragrant as the palm ; 
And Sharon's roses are as beautiful 
As Lebanon's majestic cedar crown." 

VI. 

" God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain." 
"Great shall be the peace of thy children." 
"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come. 

Rev. xxi. 4. Isa. liv. 13. Matt. xix. 14. 

" It is no small advantage," saith Bishop Tay- 
lor, " that our children dying young receive ; for 
their condition of a blessed immortality is ren- 



262 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ciered to them secure, by being snatched from 
the dangers of an evil choice, and carried to 
their little cells of felicity, where they can weep 
no more. 

" They are entered into a secure possession, to 
which they went with no other condition but 
that they passed into it through the way of mor- 
tality, and for a few months wore an uneasy gar- 
ment." 

14 God took thee in His mercy, 
A lamb untasked, untried ; 
He fought the fight for thee, 
He % ained the victory, 
And thou art sanctified." 

VII. 

4< Is it well with the child ? And she answered, It is well." 
41 There the wicked cease from troubling." 
4t In the world ye shall have tribulation." 

II. Kings, iv. 26. Job, iii. 17. John, xvi. 33. 

We cannot doubt that as " one star differeth 
from another star in glory," so to him who fights 
the battle of life, faithful unto death, — " to him 
that overcometh," shall be given a more glorious 
crown ; and they shall enter upon a higher degree 
of blessedness, symbolized, in the words of the 



BEREAVEMENT. 263 

Lord himself, by " the hidden manna," and the 
" white stone, in which is a new name written." 

It is right submissively to wish and ask that 
our children may live to fight this good fight 
and to finish nobly a Christian course. 

But let us ever meekly add : " Not as I will, 
but as Th-.u wilt." 

Who but He who seeth the end from the be- 
ginning, and knoweth the way that we mm t take, 
the snares and perils which shall encompass us, 
"the sin which may blight, and the sorrow 
which shall fade," the fair blossom of life so 
lovely and promising now; who but He can 
say that our beloved one shall stand the trial, 
and " come forth as gold " ? 

Do we shudder to contemplate the possibility 
of a different ending to the life so precious to us ? 
Do we dare to ask for our child sorrow, suffer- 
ing, and temptation that we know not of, and 
such as might appall us could we foresee it? 

Then let us trust this life to Him who doth 
not afflict or grieve us willingly, but though He 
cause grief, in removing our precious ones out of 
our sight, does it in infinite mercy and compas- 
sion to us and to them. 



264 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



VIII. 

" Neither will I offer unto the Lord my God of that which 
doth cost me nothing.'' 
" I have lost my children, and am desolate." 
" There stood by the Cross of Jesus, his mother." 

II. Sam. xxiv. 24. Isa. xlix. 21. John, xix. 25. 

"God loveth a cheerful giver." Cheerfully, 
then, yield up at His call that which has cost 
thee so much, and is so dear in thy sight, though 
" a sword pierce through thine own soul " at the 
sacrifice. 

And He will restore into thy bosom, in His 
own good time, an hundredfold the joy and 
comfort of which thou art now bereft. 

" It is but a little while when this thin veil of 
clouds hanging in darkness betwixt us and that 
region of brightness, shall break away, and our 
God shall put to shame our weeping, giving us 
back our lost, clad in Heaven's own garb, and 
beaming in all the light and health of that hap- 
piness and glory in which they have been kept, 
and nursed, and nourished." 

"Redeemer, I thank Thee 
That children of mine, 
As gems in Thy coronet 
Ever shall shine. 



BEREAVEMENT. 2 00 

Full reward for all sufFring, 

All sorrow and pain, 
If in bliss everlasting 

I meet them again. 1 ' 

IX. 

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart he also.-' 
" Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." 
44 What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know 
hereafter." 

Malt. vi. 21. Jer. xxxi. 3. John, xiii. 7. 

Through the iofmite mercy of our God, the 
little ones early called have been, in regard to 
many a household, jvhat the martyred innocents 
of Bethlehem were to the Church, — " First-fruits 
unto God and to the Lamb." 

Beautifully illustrative of these dealings of our 
All- Wise and Compassionate Guide, is the 
familiar parable of the Alpine shepherd with his 
sheep : 

"They in the valley's sheltering care 

Soon crop the meadow's tender prime; 
And when the sod grows brown and bare, 
The shepherd strives to make them climb. 

" But naught can lure the timid things 
The steep and rugged path to try, 
Though sweet the shepherd calls and sings, 
And seared below the pastures lie. 
23 



266 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

* k Till in his arms their lambs he takes 
Along the dizzy verge to go, 
When, heedless of the rifts and breaks, 
They follow on o'er rock and snow. 

" And in those pastures lifted fair, 

More dewy soft than lowland mead, 
The shepherd drops his tender care, 
And sheep and lambs together feed." 

So, when our hearts are too much wrapped in 
earth's poor joys, and we are forgetful of the 
better things in store for us above, does our 
Good Shepherd take and bear away from our 
sight some treasured object of our love, that we 
may more willingly heed His call, " Follow thou 
Me!" 

Blessed be His name who gave, and who thus 
in mercy recalls His gift ! Let it be ours so to 
make our calling and election sure, that our 
hearts may rest in the precious assurance con- 
cerning our little ones who have gone before, — " I 
shall go to Him, though He shall not return to 
me." 



BEREAVEMENT. 267 



" I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a 
stroke." 

" She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her 
cheeks. 1 ' 

" The heart knoweth his own bitterness." 

Ezek. xxiv. 16. Lam. i. 2. Prov. xiv. 10. 

When the holiest and nearest of earthly ties is 
sundered by death, the stricken one seems for a 
time beyond the reach of earthly comforters. 

As a stranger intermeddleth not with the dear 
and sacred joys of conjugal life, so the bereaved 
heart alone knoweth the bitterness of the separ- 
ation ; and friends shrink from intruding with 
words of consolation upon the one who u sitteth 
alone and keepeth silence " under the burden of 
such a grief. 

Yet even for sorrow such as this there is 
i% balm in Gilead," and "a physician there," 
who, with tenderest skill, can probe and mitigate 
the anguish of such a wound. 

Nor will the suffering spirit refuse the touch 
of that gracious Hand, well knowing that " in 
all our affliction He is afflicted " ; and that He, 
as no earthly friend, can be "touched with a 
feeling of our infirmities." 



263 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



XL 

"The whole family in heaven and earth." 

"Concerning them which are asleep, .... sorrow not, 
even as others which have no hope." 

"I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, .... nor 
things present, nor things to come, .... shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord." 

Eph. iii. 15. I. Thess. iv. 13. Rom. viii. 38, 39. 

If the wedded pair were united in Christ, 
while there will be tender memories of the days 
when they took sweet counsel together, and 
walked to the House of God in company, yet, 
surely, " as sufferings abound, consolations will 
much more abound." 

For the departed one is yet, in very truth, a 
member of the same household of God ; though 
hidden from view, he is, as it were, but in an- 
other mansion of the same Father's House ; re- 
joicing in the smile of the same loving Master ; 
animated by the same blessed hope of His ap- 
pearing, and of a glorious resurrection, as those 
who yet remain in this vale of tears. 

What, indeed, shall separate those who are 
alike members of the body of Christ ? 



BEREAVEMENT. ?M 

XII. 

" Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? " 
" Unto the godly there ariseth up light in the darkness : 
He is merciful, loving, and righteous.'" 
"Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." 

Gen. xviii. 25. Ps. cxii. 4 (Psalter). Rev. xv. 3. 

When the anguished heart has no such com- 
forting hope to cling to ; when, instead, all is 
doubt and gloom as to the present state of the 
beloved one, what bitter drops are mingled with 
the cup of woe ! 

Ah ! why do we not bethink ourselves, while 
yet there is time, of the hour when " one shall 
be taken and another left," that it be not for 
an eternal parting ! 

The comfort which the mourner finds in such 
a case is well called " light in the darkness." 

Only by holding fast, as it were, to the horiis 
of the altar, by stretching out the hand of faith, 
through the gloom, to lay hold of the right 
hand of everlasting righteousness, can calmness 
and peace return to the stricken soul. 

XIII. 

" Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray." 
" O Lord, my strength, .... my refuge in the day of afflic- 
tion." 

23* 



270 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

41 Then David arose from the earth, .... and came into 
the house of the Lord, and worshipped." 

James, v. 13. Jer. xvi. 19. II. Sam. xii. 20. 

From a sermon recently delivered, we are per- 
mitted to quote these words : 

"In the case of David's bereavement, it is 
good to see what devout and instant resignation 
was manifested by him. 

" He did not, as some Christians have done, 
shut himself up at home, for weeks and months, 
on the plea that his grief was too great to bear 
going to the House of the Lord. Where should 
a believer go, in his affliction, and where find 
comfort, but in the House of God, in its prayers 
and sacraments ? 

" And then David engaged at once in the 
duties of life, took his place again with his 
family, and ate as usual at his table. 

" What a contrast with their conduct who 
immure themselves in the darkened room, re- 
quiring to be ministered unto, and suffering 
family csres and duties to go neglected, on the 
plea of great grief at their bereavement ! 

" And, with all this, there is a feeling that such 
manifestations of sorrow are commendable, and 



BEREAVEMENT. 271 

that the absence of them would evince heart- 



u Is there no consolation in religion? Was 
Mary heartless because she stood beside the 
cross of her Son ? Did the other women and 
the disciples prove themselves insensible to their 
great loss, because they came to anoint the 
sacred body, or met together for worship ? 

" Are there not often added duties demanding 
our attention, when death has entered our 
dwelling ? and is not one great design of trial 
and affliction to make us more faithful in life's 
duties ? 

" There is much passionate grief that is hea- 
thenish. Nature must indeed have its outbursts 
of tears ; but grace will soon bring the afflicted 
one to go about in duties more earnestly, to 
come to God's house more reverently, to show 
the blow, as the vine shows the pruning-knife, 
by a few drops, but also by greater faithfulness, 
and to treat the loss as the soldier does the fall 
of a comrade, closing up the ranks, and march- 
ing on more earnestly in life's great battle." 



272 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

XIV. 

" Let thy widows trust in Me." 

"He will establish the border of the widow." 

"He relieveth the fatherless and the widow." 

Jer. xlix. 11. Prov. xv. 25. Ps. cxlvi. 9. 

In very many cases of widowhood there is 
added to the grief of bereavement, harassing 
perplexity and anxiety concerniog the future 
maintenance of the family. 

But the Word of God meets this most natural 
difficulty with special, full, and abundant prom- 
ises to the widow and orphaned. 

Not only does God himself espouse the cause 
of such bereaved ones, who trust in Him, but He 
many times enjoins upon His people, as a sacred 
duty, to remember the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to share with these His 
bounties, that their God may " bless them in all 
the work of their hands." 

The heart of the believing widow shall ever 
have cause to " sing for joy" at the gracious ful- 
filment of that word of promise which hath been 
her comfort in her affliction. 



BEREAVEMENT. 273 

XV. 

" Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them 
alive." 

" A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, 
is God in His holy habitation." 

"To them that have no might He increaseth strength." 
Jer. xlix. 11. Ps. lxviii. 5. Isa. xl. 29. 

Still heavier is the burden of care which 
presses upon the widowed mother, left the sole 
natural guardian of the little ones, for whose 
safe conduct along life's perilous way she feels 
herself sadly incompetent. 

Often does the sigh of anxious solicitude es- 
cape her at some instance of youthful wayward- 
ness, which seems to demand a father's strong, 
restraining hand ; and sorely does she miss the 
sympathy and counsel of one interested like 
herself in the well-being of her children. 

But as in every perplexing path of duty, so 
above all in this, the Christian mother may with 
confidence seek unto the source of all strength 
and wisdom. Her fatherless children are chil- 
dren of the covenant, yea, of an especial cove- 
nant of mercy. 

Let not the mother thus situated relax the 
reins of discipline from a sense of her own weak- 



274 THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

ness, for this were to doubt the help so freely 
promised. 

And she has need to be especially on her 
guard lest an added tenderness toward those, 
like herself so deeply bereaved, do not betray 
her into an undue indulgence of their faults and 
follies, and make her blind to defects which will 
mar their Christian character and usefulness. 

With new energy and faithfulness let her seek, 
by God's help, to supply to her children the loss 
they have sustained ; in the meekness of wisdom 
exerting all her influence, and the powers per- 
haps hitherto dormant, for their temporal and 
eternal well-being ; and the Father of the father- 
less will smile upon and sustain her efforts. 

XVI. 

"The time is short: it remaineth that .... they that 
weep, be as though they wept not." 

" We should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this 
present world ; looking for that blessed hope." 

"That the trial of your faith .... might be found unto 
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.' 
I. Cor. vii. 29, 30. Tit. ii. 12, 13. I. Pet. i. ?. 

Meet words are these to be much in the hearts, 
not only of the bereaved, but of those in the 
full tide of life's duties, joys, and temptations. 



BEREAVEMENT. 275 

With them we will close this little book, 
humbly praying that the words of Heavenly 
wisdom which it has been our privilege to 
collate and dwell upon, may throw a gladdening 
light upon the path of many a Christian Mother. 



FINIS. 









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